252 

4 
py 1 



STUKENBORG 

MECHANICAL 
COTTON PICKING MACHINE 



THE KEY TO 

SOUTHERN PROGRESS 



By L. F. WEGERLY 



COTTON PICKER CO. OF AMERICA 



INDIANAPOLIS 



CHICAGO 



ATLANTA 



Stukenborg, 
MecKanical Cotton Picking, Machine 



The key to 
Southern Progress 



By L. F. Wefeerly, LL. B. 

Secretary-Treasurer of the 
Cotton Picker Company of America 



Cotton Picker Company of America 

Indianapolis Chicago Atlanta 



> 



!^' 




X 



COPYRIGHTED 1920 

BY 

L. F. WEGERLY, LL. B. 



JUL 29 1920 



iGI,A570974 



PRINTED BY 

R. B. HORWICH & CO. 
CHICAGO 



PREFACE 

In preparing this little pamphlet relative to the cotton indus- 
try the statistics were gathered from the writings of the best 
writers and authorities that the subject affords. 

For much of the data pertaining to cotton and its fiber, the 
writer is greatly indebted to F. W. Stukenborg, president of the 
Cotton Picker Company of America, and his brother, L. C. Stuken- 
borg, inventor of the MECHANICAL COTTON PICKING MA- 
CHINE bearing his name. The many years devoted by these two 
brothers to growing and handling cotton, together with fifteen 
years or more given by them to the study of mechanical devices 
for picking cotton from the boll, the manufacture and exploita- 
tion thereof, has fitted them pre-eminently to be classed among 
the highest authorities on this particular branch of the cotton 
industry. 

The object in compiling this pamphlet is for the purpose of 
educating the planters of cotton how the wasteful and inefficient 
systems now used in producing, harvesting, handling and market- 
ing the cotton crop may be corrected; the necessity of improving 
the quality of the cotton as well as increasing the yield per acre ; 
to point out the annual estimated monetary losses resulting there- 
from; the means whereby these losses may be materially reduced, 
and to encourage a closer co-operation between the several fac- 
tors of each branch of the cotton industry to the end that the 
wants and needs of each other may be satisfactorily met, and 
thereby, develop higher economic and industrial efficiency. 

In treating the various subjects repetition is made use of 
freely, partly because they are so closely related to each other, 
and partly because of our desire to keep certain things before 
the reader at all times. 

We trust that those whose eyes pursue these pages shall gain 
some useful information relative to the cotton industry, and take 
advantage of every opportunity as herein reflected to correct the 
evil and abusive systems now prevalent throughout the cotton 
producing sections of the United States of America. 



Chicago, Illinois, March 1, 1920. 




CONTENTS 



Chapter 1. Early History and Growth of Cotton Industry 7 

Qualities of Cotton 11 

Lint and By-Products 12 

Chapter 2. Losses Due to Abusive Systems and Methods in Producing, Mar- 
keting, Harvesting the Cotton Crop 15 

Chapter 3. Inventions and Discoveries 17 

Spinning and Weaving 20 

Chapter 4. Evils and Abuses of the Cotton Crop and How to Correct 

Them 27 

Invention of the Stukenborg Mechanical Cotton Picking Ma- 
chine 28 

Harvesting and Ginning 31 

Remedy — Stukenborg Cotton Picking Machine 33 

Grading Cotton 36 

Chapter 5. Importance of Clean Cotton 39 

Grading 41 

Chapter 6. Judging the Future by the Past '. 45 

Capacity of Machine and Hand Pickers 46 

Vital Points 48 

Baling 50 

Warehousing 53 

Chapter 7. Labor, Cultivation and Soil Depletion 57 

Cultivation 58 

Seed Selection 59 

Soil Depletion and Restoration 61 

Good Roads 63 

Better Homes 63 

Good Tools 64 

Chapter 8. Textile Industry 67 

Chapter 9. Future Outlook of the Cotton Industry 73 

Chapter 10. Summary and General Discussion 77 

Chapter 11. Public Opinion and Stukenborg Cotton Picker 81 

Chapter 12. Final Summary and Vital Points 86 

Chapter 13. Testimonials 89 

Conclusion 92 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Cotton Blossom 8 

Matured Cotton in the Boll 9 

Government Samples of Staple Lengths of Cotton Fibers. . .10 

Original Model of Whitney's Cotton Gin 19 

Stukenborg's First Successful Model 30 

Matured Cotton Bolls Before Being Picke:! 34 

Hand Picked Cotton 34 

Mechanism of Stukenborg Mechanical Cotton Picking Ma- 
chine 35 

Machine Picked Cotton 35 

Stukenborg Single Head Cotton Picking Machine Attached 
to Beeman Garden Tractor 43 

Stukenborg Double Head Cotton Picking Machine Attached 
to a Small Beeman Garden Tractor 47 

Appearance of American Cotton Bale as It Leaves the Cot- 
ton Gin 50 

South American, Indian and American Cotton Bale3 51 

Two American and One Indian Cotton Bales on Reaching 

Destination 51 

Texas and Oklahoma Bales on Reaching Destination 52 

Cotton Stored at Compress Exposed to Weathe" 54 

Plantation Scene of Cotton Exposed to Weathei- 54 

Stukenborg Double Head Cotton Harvester Attached to 
Beeman Garden Tractor 81 

NOTICES 

Stukenborg Cotton Harvester 94 

Indiana Tractor 95 

Design for Attaching Stukenborg Cotton Harvesters to 
Trucks, Chassis, Automobiles, etc 96 



CHAPTER I 
EARLY HISTORY AND GROWTH OF COTTON INDUSTRY 

The cotton plant is of prehistoric origin. Its early history is 
mingled with the traditions of the inhabitants of exceedingly 
remote periods. Even archaeologists fail to give anything definite 
as to the beginning of its culture and use. However, there is an 
abundance of evidence that cotton has been cultivated in various 
portions of the earth for many centuries past. In India in the 
year 800, B. C, and history tells us that cotton fabrics were 
famous in Egypt during the zenith of her glory. It was grown 
at a very early date in South America and parts of North 
America. The cotton plant seems to be native to Southern Asia, 
Africa, South America and the West Indies. Our forefathers 
commenced to grow it over 250 years ago. 

Today, it is a world crop. Every nation depends largely 
upon the cotton industry and upon the southern part of the 
United States for cotton. All classes of people, rich and poor, 
high and low, make use of it, and the world is continually calling 
for more. Foreign countries send more gold into the United 
States in payment for our cotton than for any other American 
crop. It constitutes the trade balance of the United States. 

The United States raises something like three-fifths of the 
world's commercial supply of cotton. The next largest producer 
is India; however, it is of poorer quality, and sells at a lower 
price than American cotton. Egypt stands third as a cotton 
producing country. Its chief product has a very long staple and 
commands a higher price than the average American cotton. 
Long staple (Sea Island) cotton is grown in the United States to 
some extent; especially, in the southeastern part along the sea 
coast, and is the finest and most valuable in the world, being 
noted for the length of its fiber and silky appearance. Long 
staple (Egyptian) cotton is grown in Egypt and in certain parts 
of the southwestern part of the United States where irrigation 
is possible and the soil and climatic conditions ideal. China 
raises a considerable amount, but greatly inferior, and the crop 
uncertain. Likewise, parts of Russia, and small patches of cotton 
may be seen in Japan. Several of the South American countries 
are now growing cotton with so much commercial success that 
they are increasing the acreage each year. It is recorded that 

7 



Hegelian found the Brazilians using cotton in 1519, and Colum- 
bus found it used by the natives in 1492. The annual production 
of Brazil is over 1,500,000 bales (176 lbs. to a bale) annually, 
and it is said that Brazil alone has approximately 20,000,000 
acres of land suitable for cotton culture. Cotton fiber grown in 
all of the tropical countries is coarse and stiff, and, therefore, 
cannot compete with American grown cotton. In all countries 
except the United States the cultivation of cotton is rather crude 
and primitive, hand labor being employed almost exclusively. 

The cotton plant is annual, biennial and perennial. In all 
tropical countries small quantities of cotton are growm from per- 
ennial plants that often grow wild and tree-like in appearance. 
Even in Southern Texas cotton plants spring from roots that live 
over winter; however, it is best to plant a good selection of cotton 
seed each season, the cotton produced from the annual plant 
being far superior in quality. 

There are many varieties of cotton plants, each of which 
differ greatly in their stalks, leaves, bloom and fiber, and also in 
their adaptability to certain soils and climatic conditions. As to 
length of fibers, there are but three principle kinds, long, medium 
and short staples, and of these there are different qualities and 
lengths. The chief commercial long stapled fibers are Sea Island, 
Brown Egyptian and Peruvian. The medium staples comprise 
Benders, Peelers, Allans, etc., while the short stapled fibers em- 
brace American Upland cotton, Indian and all other cotton fibers 
not classed as long staple cotton, and under IVs inches in length. 




Cotton Blossom 
8 



Sea Island constitutes the most valuable fiber of all the dif- 
ferent species of cotton. Its superiority lies in its strength, fine- 
ness, uniformity of twists, length of staple and silky appearance. 
It is grown on the islands off the coast of Georgia and South 
Carolina where the staple runs from 1%. to 2i/^ inches in length. 
That grown on the mainland in close proximity to the coast runs 
from 1% to 2 inches, and that grown in Florida while of a coarser 
fiber runs from I14 to 1% inches in length. It has a light cream 
color and is used for producing fine yarns. The average yield is 
125 pounds of lint per acre, requiring from 3V2 to 41/4 pounds of 
seed cotton to yield one pound of lint cotton. 




Matured Cotton in the Boll 

Egyptian long stapled cotton is probably of Sea Island origin 
and possesses a yellowish brown color, but inferior to Sea Island 
cotton. Its product has a very long fiber, 1% to IV2 inches, 
brown color, high lustre, strong and silky. It is grown under 
systems of irrigation in the lower part of the Nile basin. The lint 
is adapted for sewing thread, fine underwear, hosiery, etc. 

Peruvian long stapled cotton differs from all other cotton in 
that the plant is perennial ; the growth from the second and third 
year, only is utilized. Its fiber is coarse and wiry, I14 to IV2 
inches in length, and of many color variations. It resembles 
wool, and nearly all of the entire crop is used for mixing with 
woolen fabrics. In all three of the long stapled varieties, no lint 
adheres to the seed, it being left smooth after ginning. 

Short stapled cotton includes all kinds not classed as long 
staple, except linters. The American Upland cotton is the typical 

9 



cotton of the world. Its fiber is suitable for various kinds of com- 
mercial yarns, and the qualities are more uniform. The seeds 
after ginning are not entirely free of lint as are the long stapled 
varieties, and which amounts to about 10% of the total weight 
of the seed. 




Government Samples of Staple Length of Cotton Fibers 

There is a great difference in the qualities and properties of 
the various varieties of cotton which must be carefully considered 
by the manufacturer in selecting and grading his stock with refer- 
ence to the nature of the yarn he is to spin. As these qualities 
and properties will be spoken of many times throughout the 
subsequent pages of this pamphlet, we deem it advisable to 
describe them fully in this, the first chapter, as follows: 

The quality of the cotton fibers depend not only on the specie 
of plant from which they are derived, but also on the manner of 
their cultivation. Apparently, the conditions which exercise the 
greatest influence are seed, soil, mode of cultivation and climatic 
conditions. The seed must be carefully selected for the purpose. 
A moist sandy soil is very desirable for long and fine staples. A 
dry soil produces harsh and brittle fibers. A light loam is con- 
sidered the best while a damp clay is the worst. Therefore, soils 
situated in close proximity to the sea produce the best staple. 
The climate should be humid with a mean average temperature 
around 70 degrees. All wild cotton has a rusty tint while culti- 
vated cotton does not, and the better it is cultivated the less tint 
to be found. Intense cultivation increases the number of natural 
twists, making the fiber stronger and more elastic. Wild cotton 
has few if any natural twists. 

10 



QUALITIES 

1. Tenstile strength means the indicated measure of the breaking 
point of an individual fiber, and also the elasticity of the fiber 
before breaking. 

2. Length of staple means the length of individual fibers in relation 
to their average diameter. Five mm. is the shortest that can be 
spun. A long staple with the smallest even diameter makes the 
finest and strongest threads. 

3. Cohesiveness means the property of individual fibers h^Mir.g one 
on to another when twisted one around the other, and winch, there- 
fore, offer substantial resistance to being pulled apart when put 
under a strain. The cotton fiber possesses an irregular surface 
giving it resisting qualities, and in connection with the characteristic 
natural twists occurring in ripe cotton at certain intervals which 
become interlocked when the fibers are spun together causes the 
fibers to hold together when twisted into yarn and subjected to the 
breaking test. Therefore, the more natural twists a fiber has the 
more elastic and desirable it is. 

4. Pliability means that property of fibers which permits one fiber 
being easily wrapped around another, as in the spinning operation. 
They must be elastic so as not to be easily broken. For this reason 
stiff and wiry fibers are less adapted to spinning. Without this 
quality the fiber would be harsh and brittle, and its use limited not 
unlike fiber made of glass. Dead or unripe cotton is without this 
quality. It is brittle, and shows up as white specks in the finished 
goods. Dead cotton is very objectionable because it develops weak 
and brittle fibers and lessens the strength and durability of the 
fabric. 

5. Fineness of staple means the smallness of the average diameter of 
each individual fiber so that they can be spun together to produce 
a fine, even thread. The finer the staple the finer is the yarn pro- 
duced therefrom. Coarse fibers are used for coarse products. 

6. Uniformity of staple me'ans both evenness of length and diameter 
of the fiber. The longer the fiber the smaller the diameter. This 
quality is a very important one as it affects the spinning of even, 
fine and strong thread. 

7. Color of the fiber is also important because of maintaining an even 
shade of yarn when put through the dyeing process; also, if pure 
white yarn is to be had. 

8. Cleanliness is also an important quality because it affects the 
amount of waste made in the mill and also lessens the value of the 
product materially. This quality is discussed under a separate 
subject. 

9. Capilarity means the capability of the fiber in absorbing liquids 
and solutions which are so necessary in dyeing and bleaching. 
Therefore, the cotton must be entirely free from foreign matter 
and impurities if even shades of dyeing and bleaching are to be had. 

10. Lustre is a desirable quality, but not essential except for beautify- 
ing effects. 

II 



11. Durability means that quality of fiber which permits of reasonable 
wear and tear when woven into the finished product. 

12. Humidity means the infiuence that moisture has upon the fiber 
with respect to strength, elasticity, ginning, spinning and weaving. 
Moisture makes cotton stronger. Proper moisture conditions must 
be maintained in the spinning process to secure the best results in 
producing the finest yarns. Normally, cotton contains from A% to 
7% moisture. Different varieties of cotton differ in this respect. 
When cotton is real dry it is brittle and more easily torn. The 
increase in elasticity of moist yarn over dry yarn is about 25% with 
an increase of strength of about lO'/r. 

13. Quantity means that the various grades of fiber must be produced 
in sufficient quantities to give them a commercial value. A few 
bales of a certain grade would be insufficient to command a special 
market value. 



LINT AND BY-PRODUCTS 

The lint and the seed are the most important elements of the 
cotton plant. The cotton fiber is picked from the boll as and 
when it matures by hand labor. This primitive method is slow, 
crude, tiresome, expensive and wasteful. Hand pickers pull the 
cotton fiber from the cotton bolls, taking with it dirt, leaf, trash 
and foreign matter, allow it to accumulate in the hollow of the 
hand where it becomes thoroughly mixed with all the dirt and 
foreign elements, squeezed, tangled and wadded up in snow ball 
fashion, and then passed on into a long narrow sack which the 
hand picker drags along for the purpose with great inconvenience. 
When the sack becomes full of the snowy fiber, or too burden- 
some to drag, it is emptied into other receptacles, and these are 
in turn loaded on wagons and hauled to the storage bin or the 
cotton gin. The cotton gin separates the fiber from the seeds 
mechanically. The lint is used in the manufacture of thread, 
yarns, ropes, fabrics and cotton materials of all kinds. The 
seeds and the short fuzzy lint adhering to the seeds which the 
gin saws failed to remove were, not so many years ago, thrown 
away, burned or dumped into the rivers. This waste is now more 
than a $1,000,000,000 by-product. The cotton oil mills pay fancy 
prices per ton for cotton seeds. Four principal products are made 
from these seeds — linters, hulls, meal and oil. The cotton mill 
machinery remove the short fuzzy fiber adhering to the seeds 
which is called "linters." They are used in making gun cottx)n, 
high explosives, mattresses, coarse yarns, carpet linings, batting, 
artificial silk and other commercial purposes. The oil obtained 
from the cotton seed is used to make compound lard, margarin, 

12 



glycerin, flour and for other purposes. The hulls are sold as a 
roughage for stock, fertilizer and may be used in making high 
grade paper. The meal is used chiefly for feeding stock and in 
the preparation of high grade commercial fertilizers. 

We now know that cotton furnished clothing for many, many 
millions of people and foodstuffs of the most nutritious value 
for both man and beast. Look around and you will find cotton 
used in some form or other almost everywhere. It effects every 
nation and its people. No other plant is so closely connected with 
the cost of living. It has become the greatest industry in the 
world. The textile industry, at the present time, represents a 
total invested capital of over thirty billion ($30,000,000,000) 
dollars. It gives employment to over seven million (7,000,000) 
people, who in turn provide for at least thirty million (30,000,- 
000) mouths. Therefore, the cotton crop is truly a world crop, 
an industry so essential and of such tremendous importance that 
it is a most vital economic factor in every civilized country on 
the globe. No other crop is so influential on human affairs. Its 
commercial history is one of luxury, and poverty, landlords 
and slave owners, mansions and hovels, national and sectional 
strife, misery, blood and tears. 



13 



CHAPTER II 

LOSSES DUE TO ABUSIVE SYSTEMS AND METHODS IN 

PRODUCING, HARVESTING, HANDLING AND 

MARKETING THE COTTON CROP 

From our own personal knowledge and observation, and from 
the knowledge that we have gained through the experience of 
others, we are fully convinced that there is a greater abundance 
of misinformation about this great crop than any other crop 
known to the human race ; that less care and consideration is given 
to it than any other crop grown by mankind ; that it is the most 
persecuted of all other crops; that it is constantly abused, kicked 
and cuffed about beginning with the care and preparation of the 
soil for its germination bed ever onward to the selection of the 
seed and the planting thereof; the cultivation of the growing 
plants; the harvesting of its delicate fiber; the care of it after 
being harvested; the process of ginning it; the system of baling 
and housing it ; the method of classifying, sampling, grading, 
marketing and handling it in the bale, and on and on through 
each successive step until it reaches its journey's end. It is said 
that it can stand more abuse than any other crop. The same 
may be said of a jackass, but in either case, the results obtained 
do not justify the course pursued. The theory sounds more like 
an apology for the abuse rather than a general rule to be wisely 
followed. 

The annual monetary losses resulting from these abusive 
methods and wasteful systems in producing, harvesting, handling 
and marketing the most delicate of all fibers (the cotton crop) 
are appalling, and almost beyond one's power to fully compre- 
hend. The greatest portion of these losses fall upon those who 
are least able to bear them, the producers of the crop, who pay 
for these losses not only in the shape of a smaller price received 
for their product, but also in lower yields per acre as well as 
the waste of time, labor and money out of which adequate returns 
are impossible. The following figures represent a fair estimate of 
the losses resulting from the established systems and methods 
now in use. 

15 



Country damage, baling and improper housing. .. .$200,000,000 

Improperly picked and ginned cotton 85,000,000 

Inefficient marketing facilities 75,000,000 

Improper grading and classification 65,000,000 

Crude cultivation and soil depletion 150,000,000 

Wasted and unpicked cotton 50,000,000 

Boll weevil, pink boll worm and other pests 75,000,000 

Estimated total annual loss $700,000,000 

The enormity of the estimated monetary loss each year would 
truly indicate that it is a much abused crop. However, the 
question most naturally arises, how are we to eliminate or even 
lessen these annual losses due to the wasteful and inefficient sys- 
tems and methods now in use? This is really a problem of world 
importance. It is one which affects the welfare of almost every 
individual person wheresoever located. It goes right into the 
heart of the home where food, shelter and clothing are so neces- 
sary as articles of sustenance. It is, therefore, a question of very 
grave concern, and in order to bring about a satisfactory solution 
of this question a full measure of co-operation is necessarily 
required of each factor of each branch identified with the cotton 
industry. 



16 



CHAPTER III 
INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES 

We are not of the opinion that any appreciable change shall 
take place in the present established systems and methods of 
producing, harvesting, handling and marketing the cotton crop 
except through the agency of new discoveries and inventions, 
scientific thoroughness, improved machinery and labor saving 
devices. The efficiency and greatness of all modern industries 
is based upon invention and discovery. This is the only practical 
solution, in our opinion, of the question at issue. Modern inven- 
tions and improved labor saving machinery must be substituted 
for hand labor. Without the many inventions of the past 150 
years, man would be still working singly and inefficiently. In the 
wake of all new inventions and discoveries other economic appli- 
ances and systems follow which either eliminate or assist hand 
labor in bringing about higher industrial efficiency. 

Years ago, the home was the seat of industry. Here was 
done the work of spinning, weaving and cloth making. Whole 
families devoted themselves to special industries. As the popula- 
tion increased the wants of man multiplied. Naturally, the 
demand for goods became greater, and, therefore, industry re- 
quired new conditions. The industry was gradually enlarged, and 
finally developed the "factory system." Inventions were substi- 
tuted for hand labor, which increased the output and lessened the 
cost of production. Great manufacturing institutions sprang up 
everywhere, around which great towns developed providing 
nearby homes for hordes of workmen. The more labor saving 
devices invented the more efficient and progressive became the 
particular industry. Such was the beginning of all our great in- 
dustries — agriculture, mining and manufacturing. Each of these 
primary industries have progressed in magnitude and efficiency in 
proportion to the introduction of new inventions and discoveries, 
improved labor saving devices and appliances, to perform tasks 
that could not be performed at all or not nearly so cheaply by 
hand labor. Of these primary industries, agriculture progressed 
the least. The reason for this is thought to be because the farmer 
was doing business on a much smaller scale, and, therefore, it 
was unnecessary for him to utilize modern and expensive ma- 
chinery and appliances. He was satisfied with the "old way of 
doing things," so to speak, and could get along without as his 
competitors were few as compared with the keen competition of 

17 



the other industries. In the past, farmers did not take to new 
machinery readily. A vast amount of educational work was 
necessary to prove to the farmer the economic value in the use of 
improved machinery. However, during the past forty years, this 
industry has made wonderful strides with respect to utilizing new 
and improved machinery and labor saving devices of all kinds; 
especially, in motorized and electrical power. 

We have endeavored to show the effect of new inventions and 
discoveries with respect to the development of the several lines 
of industry, and we shall now confine ourselves as much as possible 
to the subject of "Cotton Industry" and the effect of inventions 
and discoveries upon its development. 

Cotton is "king" in the southern states. Its very name revives 
the history of our Colonial days; of the land of sunshine and 
flowers; of untold wealth and beautiful white-columned mansions, 
surrounded by stretches of green lawns and massive shade trees 
with hammocks hung between where the planter sipped his minted 
julep and journeyed on to peaceful slumbers, — the typical home 
of the old southern planter. Alas, how different is the cotton 
grower in reality. Instead of being the planter of your "pictured 
dream," he is just a plain ordinary farmer. His entire family, 
children and all, work from sunrise to sunset in order to keep the 
wolf from the door. He helps to feed and clothe the world, but 
can afford few clothes for himself and family. His food is 
usually corn bread, hominy and pork — the fatty kind. His home 
is an unpainted sun-kissed hovel without white columns, and sur- 
rounded by lawns both treeless and grassless. His drink is the 
juice of the land, and his hammock the "snowy fields" beyond the 
sky. This reminds us of the days of slavery, and in the cultivation 
of the cotton crop, slavery received its real impetus. The price 
of cotton was based upon free labor, and for this reason, it has 
never commanded a price favorable to its production at a profit 
as have the other great crops. Slavery has been the curse of the 
cotton crop. However, during the past few years the cotton pro- 
ducers have been receiving a fair price for their cotton, but the 
price they are receiving is not what it should be if the South is 
to solve the questions with which she is now confronted. 

Before the invention of the cotton gin cotton was not a great 
article of commerce because the lint had to be removed from the 
seed by hand labor. This process was so slow and tedious that 
one pound of lint per day was considered the average work of 
one person. Think of removing the lint from the seed by hand 

18 



labor of our 15,000,000 bale crop of today. Why, it would take 
all the people in the United States from 15 to 20 years to com- 
plete the task. Therefore, the removal of the lint from the seed 
by hand labor was so slow and the cost of the labor so great 
that cotton cloth was a real luxury. None but the real rich could 
afford to buy it. 




Original Model of Whitney's Cotton Gin 



In 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin which separated 
the fiber from the seed mechanically. This invention revolu- 
tionized the cotton industry which immediately took on an added 
stimulus. Cotton cloth ceased to be expensive as the cotton gin 
cleaned as much cotton from the seed as had been cleaned by 
hundreds of slaves. Whitney's original gin did the work of ten 
men. It was enlarged so as to increase its capacity, and our 
present gins do the work of thousands and thousands of slaves, 
delinting the entire crop in three or four months. Hence, cotton 
became a very important article of commerce. It soon became 
the principal crop of the southern planters. They increased their 
production and gradually extended the cultivation of cotton until 
it now embraces most of the best available lands in the southern 
and southwestern states. Still, the demand for raw cotton is far 
greater than the supply. The world is calling for more and more 
cotton, and it shall continue to do so for many years to come* 
New uses for cotton are being discovered, and as the population 
increases, of course, more cotton will be utilized. One-third of 
the world is still unclothed. In passing to the next paragraph, 
bear in mind what the invention of the cotton gin meant to the 
cotton industry. 

19 



SPINNING AND WEAVING 

As far back as 1750 spinning and weaving were hand pro- 
cesses. Evidence of spinning and weaving discovered among the 
unearthed ruins of the works of prehistoric man indicate that this 
art was in use long before history, itself, began, and among races 
of widely separated parts of the world. The mystery about it is 
that the designs in the fabrics woven by the early races of the 
eastern and western continents are in many respects very similar. 
Even today hand spinners and weavers of India can utilize in- 
ferior Indian cotton and produce as fine a yarn as is made in Eng- 
land and America from the finest of staples. They seem to be 
able to accomplish by hand that which machinery cannot perform. 
It is said that in the 13th century India produced the finest and 
most beautiful cottons that are to be found in no other part of 
the world; that calicoes were made so fine that one could scarcely 
feel them in the hand, and the thread when spun was hardly 
discernible, and that the poetic writers of the Orient described 
them as ''Webs of Woven Wind." Weaving, therefore, is one of 
the most ancient arts. Crude devices and even rude machinery 
to assist the hand were not uncommon. 

The early inhabitants of the earth made mats and clothing 
by tying, twisting, knotting and interlacing grasses, rushes, twigs 
and strips of skins. Even today grass garments are worn in 
several countries. The Navajo Indians are still weavers, and even 
modern machinery cannot excel the hand woven materials from 
the various parts of the world. 

Spinning is also found among all primitive people. It is the 
twisting of a succession of fibers into a continuous yarn, rope, 
thread or cord. Weaving is the interlacing of suitable materials 
crossing each other at right angles. Consequently, the two pro- 
cesses are closely related. As far as is known, cotton spinning 
was carried on in India in the year 800, B. C, and perhaps many 
years before. For this purpose, the distaff and spindle were in 
use from the dawn of history to about the 14th century, when the 
spinning wheel was brought into play. The spinning wheel was 
improved upon from time to time, and finally, foot power was 
applied to it. Therefore, the work of spinning proved to be 
faster than carding, which necessitated a new carding device of 
greater capacity. Carding is the preparation of raw material 
for spinning by cleaning, opening and laying the fibers parallel. 
History credits John Wyatt and Lewis Paul as the first inventors 
of spinning machinery and this between the years 1733 and 1758. 
However, about the year 1750, a new carding device was invented 

20 



capable of carding sufficient material to supply the new spinning 
device. In 1760, John Hargreaves improved the cotton carding 
machine. Later, Rienard Arkwright added to it further new and 
useful improvements. Feeding the carding machine was a hand 
process. In 1772, the apron feed was brought into use. Both 
Hargreaves and Arkwright made further improvements which, 
of course, necessitated better and quicker spinning and weaving 
methods. In this respect, various improvements were made from 
time to time. In the year 1738, John Wyatt invented a way to 
spin without use of the fingers. Other new and valuable improve- 
ments were made from time to time. Finally, Hargreaves in- 
vented the Spinning Jenny whereby a number of threads were 
spun at once. It is said that he named this invention after his 
little daughter Jenny, who, it seems, while at play accidentally 
overturned a one-thread spinning wheel which continued to re- 
volve when the spindle was in an upright position, and her father 
thereby conceived the idea that if a number of spindles were 
placed upright, side by side, a number of threads might be spun 
at once. Then, in 1768 Arkwright invented the Water Frame 
involving the principle of rollers and doffer comb. It is said that 
Arkwright conceived the idea of roller spinning from seeing two 
pairs of rollers elongate red hot iron, one pair of rollers running 
faster than the other pair. However, Arkwright lost his patent 
rights to John Paul on account of priority of the idea. The inven- 
tion was named "Water Frame" because it was operated by water 
power. Later, Samuel Crompton combined the ideas of Har- 
greaves and Arkwright, and thereby produced the "Mule Frame" 
in the year 1779. It was so named because it was a "cross" 
between the Spinning Jenny and the Water Frame. It followed, of 
course, that weaving machinery had to be improved upon in order 
to take care of the product supplied by the new carding and 
spinning devices. John Kay made valuable improvements for 
weaving machinery, and in 1738, invented what is known as the 
Fly Shuttle. It was so named because of the speed with which it 
could be operated. It improved the quality of the cloth, lightened 
the labor and doubled the output. It is said that this device 
increased the capacity of the loom four-fold. Kay invented 
numerous processes, all of which were of great value to the indus- 
try. His son John, in 1760, invented the Drop Box. This device 
made it possible to weave different colors of thread into the same 
fabric and thereby produce figured materials. These two inven- 
tions brought the capacity of weaving far ahead of the supply of 
weaving material. The spinning devices could not provide enough 
warp. Various improvements were then added to spinning ma- 

21 



chinery. In 1785, Dr. Cartwright invented the Power Loom which 
could be automatically stopped upon breaking a thread. This 
invention made practical the use of power machinery. The last 
of the great basic inventions was that of Joseph Jacquard who 
invented the loom bearing his name, and which made possible 
the weaving into fabrics the most intricate and beautiful designs. 
This invention embraces the best parts of the older devices com- 
bined with the improvements of the inventor. This loom was 
completed in 1824. However, in the year 1830, a man by the 
name of Roberts improved upon the power loom and developed 
what is now the modern loom, or Self-Acting Mule. 

To English inventors is due the credit for most of the basic 
inventions relative to the textile industry. Most of the machinery 
used in the cotton mills today involve the principles of these early 
inventions. However, the later improvements, and many of the 
most essential modifications have been the work of Americans. 
THESE VARIOUS INVENTIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS MADE 
POSSIBLE THE GREAT COTTON AND TEXTILE INDUSTRY 
OF TODAY. It is said that more than one-fifth of the population 
of the world is engaged in these industries in some form or other. 

The principles of modern spinning and weaving are based 
upon the inventions of John Paul, Kay, Hargreaves, Arkwright, 
Crompton, Cartwright and Kay. One girl can spin several thou- 
sand times as much in a day as was done with the old spinning 
wheel. The same is true of the loom and of the cotton gin. Still, 
other improvements and labor saving devices were added from 
time to time. First, foot power, then horse power, water power, 
steam power, and finally, electrical power. Scientific research 
and development also played an important part. The cotton gin 
made possible an adequate supply of raw cotton. You will note 
particularly how each of these inventions depend upon one 
another. Without the one, the others would fall far short of their 
purpose and efficiency. To supply the present wants and needs 
of man these inventions must be classed as a unit. They are in- 
separable. They are primarily responsible for the present thirty 
billion ($30,000,000,000) dollar industry. They made it possible 
to clothe the world. Inventions move the wheels of progress. 

There are certain characteristics that go hand in hand with 
all new inventions. First, they reqifire much time, thought, energy 
and money to put the idea into mechanical form. Second, after 
the idea is mechanically perfected, it must be manufactured and 
made ready for the market which require both mechanical skill 
and the expenditure of large sums of money for manufacturing, 

22 



exploitation and educational work. Third, the people usually 
being skeptical about new and untried inventions are not ready- 
buyers, and therefore, they must be educated to use the new in- 
vention advantageously. Again, labor is most always prejudiced. 
Herein lies the greatest expense, the greatest failures and the 
most trying period. In this respect, we shall relate the history of 
the inventors and their inventions of which we have spoken in this 
chapter. 

It is said that John Kay became bankrupt protecting his patents 
against infringers, although he won all of the suits in which he 
was involved. The weavers were so enraged over Kay's inven- 
tions that he was obliged to leave the country. He went to Leeds 
where the same opposition was manifested on the part of the 
weavers, and it is said that he then consigned his inventions to 
the poor house where they were operated by the inmates. A mob 
broke in and demolished everything they could find, and Kay 
would have lost his life had it not been for two of his friends who 
secreted him to a place of safety. His spinning machine was 
called a "dangerous piece of furniture." He then crossed over to 
France, the machines being smuggled out of England, where he 
began working on them again. He applied to the English govern- 
ment for financial assistance but was refused. He died in France 
in obscurity and want. His inventions with modifications are 
actually in use today. Irrespective of the bad treatment accorded 
him, his name shall live on through ages. Kay was an engineer 
and a machinist. 

Richard Arkwright was a man of considerable executive 
ability, very poor, no education, could scarcely read or write. 
He was apprenticed as a barber, and later knighted by the king. 
The spinners became so infuriated over his invention that they 
destroyed the mills built by Arkwright, and in which his inven- 
tions were operated. Infringements upon his patents sprang up 
on all sides and he lost every suit because it was proven that he 
did not conceive the original idea. However, his several mills 
supplied him with a steady income and the loss of the law suits 
did not hurt him very much financially. He added many valuable 
improvements to carding, drawing and spinning machinery. He 
died in 1792, leaving a fortune of nearly two million dollars. 
This is an example of what executive ability means to a successful 
business career. 

Samuel Crompton was a farmer and a weaver by trade. He 
developed much musical talent and earned a few dollars playing 
at a theater which he used for the purpose of buying tools and 

23 



material to build and perfect his spinning process. He developed 
a machine which spun superior yarns. He operated this machine 
in his own home. The manufacturers operating in the neighbor- 
hood had one of their number secrete himself in the loft above 
Crompton's spinning machine where it was watched for several 
days through a small hole in the ceiling. His life was not only 
endangered, but his machine was likely to be destroyed at any 
time, so he hid it until he had money enough to have it patented. 
Many attempts were made to ascertain the mechanism of this 
machine. However, later he received a grant of 5000 pounds 
from the English government. He was not a success in business, 
and in his old age was kept from want through the kindness of 
a few of his old friends. He died in 1824. 

Dr. Cartwright was a minister of the church, and knew 
nothing about textile machinery, never had seen a loom, or any- 
thing about its construction. This being true, another truth which 
now and then crops out so repeatedly in discovery and invention 
that men who know nothing of the particular business often pro- 
duce remarkable inventions. This rule holds good in all lines of 
business. The manufacturers to whom he showed it gave him 
little encouragement, and in order to bring out his own machines 
built a factory of his own and equipped it with his own power 
looms. In this undertaking his poor business ability led him to 
failure. The spinners and weavers set fire to a large mill con- 
taining 400 looms which were operated by steam power. This 
put him in bad financial straits. He became discouraged, and 
together with various infringement suits brought against his 
patents, he turned his attention to the invention and improvement 
of farm implements. He was quite successful, and for his work 
in this respect the government granted him a reward of 10,000 
pounds. 

Joseph Jacquard and Hargreaves received the same kind of 
treatment at the hands of the spinners and weavers. Their ma- 
chines were broken up and they too were obliged to flee from 
their homes. However, Emperor Napoleon granted Jacquard an 
annuity of 3,000 francs with the understanding that he should 
transfer his inventions to Lyons, and later, Lyons, France, became 
the art center of the textile industry. 

Eli Whitney was a graduate of Yale, knew nothing about 
cotton until he was taken south as a tutor in the family of General 
Green. He was asked to make a machine for removing the cotton 
fiber from the seed, which he did, and to which the attention of 
the South was quickly aroused. Mobs broke in the house where 

24 



the model was stored, carried off the model and reproduced it so 
that thousands of planters began to use it without the consent of 
the inventor whose property it was. It was a small hand machine 
with a capacity of ten pounds per day while by-the-hand-process 
only one pound per day was possible. However, in 1800, Whitney 
did receive recognition from the southern planters of his rights 
and received from them the sum of $50,000.00. 

Such has been the treatment of the inventors above mentioned. 
The experience of our present inventors is much the same except 
a different method is used in preventing the use of their inven- 
tions. The road of an inventor and his organization is rocky 
with many detours, pitfalls and washouts. It is said that it re- 
quired 11 years to educate the public to use vacuum carpet 
cleaners. The same is true of the typewriter, adding machine, 
telephone, automobiles, various kinds of farm implements, elec- 
trical devices, and we may as well include all of the great labor 
saving devices invented since time immemorial. At first, all 
moved slowly upon the market, but in time, they gained momen- 
tum, and the demand became greater than the supply. Such has 
been the early history of nearly all inventions that are now so well 
established in the various industries. 

We now have given a brief history of the cotton plant, its 
several kinds and its various uses. We have spoken of its early 
growth and its gradual rise to a crop of world importance. We 
have enumerated various examples of how new discoveries and 
inventions were primary factors in the progress of all industries, 
and how they made possible the great cotton industry. We have 
told how hand labor was gradually displaced by improved labor 
saving devices and the effect thereof upon the various industries 
and the public welfare. We endeavored to impress upon your 
mind how, out of necessity, one invention brings on another of 
equal or even greater importance, thereby increasing capacity and 
efficiency, and so on and on until industrial progress and efficiency 
meet the social and economic wants of mankind. We have called 
your attention to the tremendous annual monetary losses resulting 
from the present methods and systems used in producing, harvest- 
ing, marketing and handling the cotton crop. In no other staple 
crop is waste so great and efficiency so low. Therefore, some- 
thing is wrong. 

The following pages shall be devoted to the evils and abuses 
of the cotton crop and how to correct them. 

25 



CHAPTER IV 

EVILS AND ABUSES OF THE COTTON CROP AND HOW TO 

CORRECT THEM 

For the purpose of this chapter the cotton industry is divided 
into five great factors, as follows: 

1. Cultivating, 

2. Harvesting. 

3. Ginning. 

4. Spinning. 

5. Weaving. 

Elsewhere, we pointed out the various steps and processes 
through which the cotton fiber passes on its way to the finished 
product as well as the systems and methods that follow through- 
out its established course. With respect to the slow, wasteful and 
inefficient systems and methods of the past, it has been strongly 
impressed upon your mind how new inventions and discoveries, 
labor saving devices and appliances utilized in spinning and 
weaving the cotton fiber into yarn and cloth were primarily instru- 
metal in developing the great cotton and textile industry of the 
present day. You are also familiar with the invention of the 
cotton gin and the marvelous work performed by it. Mechanical 
ingenuity combined with scientific research and development have 
done much for three of the great factors (ginning, spinning and 
weaving), elevating them to the highest degree of industrial, 
social and economic efficiency. Two of these five great factors 
(cultivating and harvesting) have been greatly neglected for 
hundreds of years. This very neglect accounts for most of the 
evils and abuses of the cotton crop of today. Of course, other 
causes could be named, but they now cease to exist, and we shall 
not revive their memory at this time. 

Were it possible for those who first grew and picked the 
snowy fiber, those who long ago passed on to "Whiter Fields" 
beyond the sky, to come back to the cotton fields of today, alive 
with singing and toiling negroes, they would feel very much at 
home as they could sing and toil with equal art and skill. The 
method of picking cotton is the same today as it was as far back 
as history runs. The absence of a mechanical device for picking 
cotton from the boll seems to be the "missing link" in the cotton 

27 



industry, and which accounts, to a very great extent, for the 
wasteful and inefficient systems and methods used in producing, 
harvesting, handling and marketing this great crop. The world 
now demands a device for picking the cotton from the boll. Such 
a device has been invented and is now well on the road to com- 
mercial usefulness. 

We know that many devices relative to cotton picking ma- 
chinery have been invented in the past. The United States 
patent records show that hundreds of patents have been issued 
for various types of cotton picking devices. None of them met 
with any commercial success. We also know that untold sums 
of money have been expended upon numerous contrivances of this 
kind, and that one concern alone has expended sums of money 
running into millions of dollars, and still commercial success 
is not in sight. Many have worked upon inventions pertaining to 
cotton picking machinery nearly a life time without achieving sub- 
stantial results. To these men the world owes much, as they have 
devoted their time, skill and efforts for the betterment of their 
fellow man. 



INVENTION OF THE STUKENBORG MECHANICAL 
COTTON PICKING DEVICE 

We know a young man, the son of a merchant of Covington, 
Kentucky, who is now about forty years of age. In his teens 
this boy was inclined to be lean, weak and sickly. For this rea- 
son he was advised to go to his brother's plantation near Selma, 
Alabama. This he did, and remained on his brother's plantation 
nearly fifteen years. In a few years, he not only regained his 
health, but developed much talent for creating new and useful 
articles about the plantation. He saw the negroes pick cotton by 
hand. He tried it himself, but the work was too slow and tedious, 
and the fingers became too sore to continue long at picking cot- 
ton by hand. At once, he set out to devise some mechanical 
means to make the work of picking cotton easier, better and 
quicker. Oft times, much to his brother's disgust, he was seen 
driving the cows into the cotton fields instead of keeping them 
out of the field as was his duty at that time. For this his brother 
reprimanded him quite frequently, but of no avail. He was seen 
watching the cows for days and weeks as they licked the fleecy 
fiber from the bolls. The tongue of a cow is rough and hairy-like, 

28 



and by placing her tongue to the fiber it readily adhered thereto, 
and in drawing the tongue inwardly the boll was relieved of its 
fiber quicker, cleaner and more gracefully than the hand could 
ever hope to do it. This gave the young man his first idea. He 
was next seen using military hair brushes brushing the fiber out 
of the cotton boll much as the cows did with their tongues. He 
discovered that brushes would comb the cotton fiber out of the 
boll very nicely. He then began to mold the idea thus gained into 
mechanical devices of various types and shapes. This was about 
twenty years ago. He made device after device, and while he was 
able, through the means of brushes, to remove the cotton fiber 
from the boll perfectly, yet no means had been devised by him 
for removing the cotton fiber from the brushes to which it closely 
adhered. This was his greatest difficulty. Brushes, of them- 
selves, will not release cotton fiber. He made many attempts to 
overcome this difficulty, but without much success, although in 
each attempt he made good progress which encouraged him to 
make another trial, and so on. After many models were built 
and tested out, he finally, in the fall of 1917, after all these years 
of experimental work, discovered that a take-off devise consist- 
ing of numerous teeth, working eccentric to its axis, the teeth of 
which protrude when in the act of combing the brushes, disappear- 
ing entirely at a point fartherest removed from the cylindrical 
brushes would take the cotton fiber off the brushes, and also 
automatically release the cotton from itself, meaning the take-off 
device. Therefore, the picking mechanism of his first successful 
model comprised two cylindrical brushes revolving inwardly at a 
certain speed which removed the cotton from the boll, and a 
take-off device as above described immediately behind these two 
cylindrical brushes revolving at a certain speed which removed 
the cotton from the brushes as well as from itself, and then 
conveyed by suction into a receptacle for that purpose. In other 
words, it embraces mechanism similar to that of the cotton gin, 
only reversed. Some call it a "miniature gin" reversed. The 
mechanism of this invention is not uncommon in principle with 
that of the early textile machinery, which were composed of 
cylinders, rollers, brushes, combing devices, eccentric motions, 
wheels and gears. This invention consists of gears, wheels, 
rollers, brushes, combing device and eccentric motions. 



29 



Hand picking is crude compared with 
the work performed by this machine. 



The cotton crop 
is the only great 
crop which is not 
harvested by ma- 
chinery. 




The only ma- 
chine that ever 
picked a lock of 
cotton and with- 
stood the test of a 
season's work. 



Stukenborg's First Successful Model, Patented April 30, 1918 

This invention may be said to be the "missing link" which has 
been the cause of some of the evils and abuses of the cotton in- 
dustry for these many years past. This machine will revolutionize 
the cotton industry as did the other inventions of which we have 
spoken. 

The name of its inventor is Louis Carrol Stukenborg. His 
brother, Frederick W. Stukenborg, formerly of Selma, Alabama, 
has been his business associate, and also assisted him in various 
ways. The writer, L. F. Wegerly, formerly of Circleville, Ohio, 
has been acting as their chief attorney, and William L. Hall, 140 
S. Dearborn Street, Chicago, Hlinois, their chief patent attorney. 
Under the corporate name of the COTTON PICKER COMPANY 
OF AMERICA, these four men set out to commercialize this in- 
vention which is destined to equal the importance of the cotton 
gin. 

In our first attempt to demonstrate the merits of this new 
invention, we are indeed grateful to our many friends and 
acquaintances through the North and South for their many 
acts of kindness extended to us, and for assisting us to make 
it a commercial success as quickly as possible. Neither do 
we overlook the courtesy extended to us by C. C. Clay, formerly 
assitant to the secretary of agriculture of the State of Georgia, 
and his mother, Mrs. Mary B. Clay, of Americus, Georgia, upon 
whose plantation this invention was first tested and tried out, 
and may we not forget the kind treatment accorded us by the 
Hon. J. D. Price, formerly commissioner of agriculture of the 
State of Georgia, and who has been a great believer in the ulti- 

30 



mate success of this invention ever since it was demonstrated 
before him at Experiment, Georgia, at which point the Georgia 
Experiment Farm is located, and Mr. Price, its director. Mr. C. 
C. Clay is now general sales manager of the Samson Tractor 
Company, Janesville, Wisconsin. These demonstrations took place 
during the late fall of 1917, and since that time many valuable 
improvements have been added to the invention. 

HARVESTING AND GINNING 

The crude and primitive method of picking cotton, in our 
opinion, is to a very great extent responsible for the many abuses 
of the cotton crop, resulting in some of the enormous losses here- 
tofore spoken of. Picking is the most expensive item in the pro- 
duction of the cotton crop. One man can cultivate as many 
acres of cotton as five or six good pickers can gather. Therefore, 
the labor required to gather the crop should be equalized with the 
labor necessary to cultivate the crop. Surplus labor, if any, would 
be thereby eliminated, and the expense of production greatly 
reduced. One man would be able to gather as much cotton as 
he could cultivate. 

Cotton picked by hand is injurious to the fiber. In pulling it 
from the boll, the action of the fingers on the fiber as it accumu- 
lates in the hollow of the hand puts it through a twisting, rolling, 
matting and squeezing process, and when placed in the sack or 
receptacle it resembles snowballs. Also, the fingers take in all 
the dirt, leaf and trash and mix it through and through the cotton 
fibers so that it becomes very difficult to remove, and it must be 
removed before the spinning operation takes place. Hand pickers 
leave the cotton in a terrible condition. To make matters worse, 
it is again abused by being dumped here and there only to be 
tangled, wadded and pressed all the more compact, and there- 
fore, it cannot cure itself properly. It is then taken to the gin to 
be assassinated, to destroy much of its value, durability and 
strength. Being in the condition that it is, there is little doubt 
but that the gin saws will cut and tear the fibers all to pieces, 
effecting materially the uniformity of staple, grade and classifica- 
tion. Hence, the producer pays the price of his folly in a lesser 
price received for his cotton. Had the proper care been taken of 
the cotton before ginning it, the writer would not venture to say 
how much more per pound the producer would have received 
for his cotton, but, rest assured, the amount would almost pay 
for the expense of picking it, and this is no small item. The gin 

31 



cannot perform good work when the cotton is in the condition 
described. Naturally, it will cut and break the cotton fibers so 
that they will grade far below the standard, and therefore, com- 
mand a lesser price, a lower commercial value. 

Much damage is done through inexperienced and unskilled 
labor in operating the gin. The operators should know how fast 
or how slow to run the gin depending upon the kind and condi- 
tion of the cotton with respect to staple and moisture. In order 
for the gin to perform its work perfectly, and lessen the cutting 
and tearing of the lint, each seed of each lock should be fully 
segregated, in a feathery-fluffy condition, with the cotton fibers 
straightened out or parallel as nearly as possible. You remember 
the function performed by the carding machine, the opening, 
cleaning and laying the fibers parallel. If this were not done, 
spinning would be almost impossible. So it is with the gin. If it 
is to do perfect work, the cotton must be properly prepared as it 
is for the spinning operation. Defective ginning causes the fibers 
to knot, which will later interfere with spinning, and finally, as ir- 
regularities in the finished product. These knots cause what is 
called "neps." For this inferior yarn the manufacturer receives 
less money, and therefore, he cannot afford to pay the producer 
nearly so much for raw cotton. The fault is with the producer. 
Again, long and short stapled fibers may be mixed in the same 
bale, or fibers of uneven lengths, which is also a source of great 
inconvenience to the manufacturer for its makes uneven yarns as 
does gin cut fibers, and therefore, the product is inferior, and the 
producer for this negligence bears the loss. Hand pickers mix 
green cotton with ripe cotton which gives cause for another incon- 
venience to the spinner. Ripe cotton fibers consist of natural 
twists at intervals. The stronger and more uniform the twists, 
the greater the elasticity of the fiber, and the better it is for 
spinning. Unripe cotton fibers show little or no twist, and for this 
reason, very harmful to the product. Again, the seed of unripe 
cotton often spoils and becomes mushy, and the gin saws sever 
them into many particles and to each particle fibers adhere. 
These are a source of great annoyance to the spinner because of 
the difficulty in removing them. Hand pickers mix the cotton 
with harmful trash of all kinds; such as, boll dirt, leaf, sand, 
storm cotton, wet and damp cotton, dirty, injured and unripe cot- 
ton, all of which is not easy to remove and results in much injury 
to the product. It also causes the gin saws to cut and tear the 
fibers, and as it is all mixed in the same bale of cotton, the result 
is the loss of untold millions of dollars each year to the producers 

32 



in the shape of a lesser price received for their cotton. Many 
other elements have a tendency to cause great loss, but we are 
now dealing with the subject of picking the cotton by hand, and 
we firmly believe that this method of harvesting the crop holds in 
its bosom the heart-root of many of the evils and abuses heretofore 
enumerated. 

REMEDY 

STUKENBORG MECHANICAL COTTON PICKER 

Cotton is the most delicate of all fibers. So delicate and fine 
are the fibers that it requires 14,000 to 20,000 individual fibers 
to weigh one grain, and 140,000,000 to weigh one pound, and if 
placed end to end in a straight line would reach 2,200 miles. 
Some authorities claim that in one instance fibers of Sea Island 
cotton were spun into thread so fine that one pound of such 
thread extended upwards of 1,000 miles. Therefore, on account 
of its extreme delicacy and fineness, too much care cannot be 
taken in harvesting it. Any injury done to it in removing it from 
the boll, no matter how little it may be, can never be cured. It is 
not unlike the beautiful white lily, crush or injure it and its beauty 
is gone forever. The damage thus caused cannot be repaired. 
For this very reason, no mechanical cotton picking device shall 
ever meet with universal satisfaction unless it performs the work 
of picking the cotton fiber from the boll better, cleaner and more 
delicate than the hand can do it. Cotton should be ''kissed" out 
of the boll, so to speak, and any mechanical device designed to 
"kiss" the cotton out of the boll need not be based entirely upon 
its capacity to give it great commercial value, but upon its initial 
cost to the consumer. 

Such a machine has been invented and is known as the Stuken- 
borg Cotton Picker. It is to be placed on the market in the very 
near future. It is not an experiment, but a real machine that 
"kisses" the cotton out of the boll. It does not injure the fiber as 
is done by hand picking, neither is the fiber twisted, matted, 
squeezed and rolled up like snowballs. Instead, each seed of 
each lock is completely segregated — in a feathery-fluflfy condi- 
tion — no tangles or bunches of cotton to interfere with the ginning 
process. The lint on each seed is more or less cleaned, straight- 
ened and laid parallel. This gives the cotton an opportunity to 
dry and cure properly, although the cotton in passing through the 
machine is relieved of its dampness to a very great extent. 
Again, the operators of the machine are not likely to pick green 

33 




MATURED COTTON BOLLS BEFORE BEING PICKED 

Note the back leaves extending over the cotton. Hand pickers remove these 

leaves, mixing them in the cotton. 



^^P^> 


Ti 


n 




^ ' 


J^ 


W^ % 


i^^^K^m^Ir'^'' 


^ 


ll^MJ 


B^6^^^2«^^H|| 


^^^^^^^^^^tT^^^^H 



HAND PICKED COTTON 

This cotton is unusually clean for hand picked cotton. Note the dirt, leaves and 
parts of boll and stalk mixed through it. It is a tangled, vi^added mass 
resembling snow balls, and in no condition for perfect ginning. 

34 




MECHANISM OF THE STUKENBORG MECHANICAL COTTON PICKING MACHINE 
Note the simplicity of its mechanism ; how it mechanically removes the cotton from the boll 
without molesting the back leaves, and how it mechanically s parates each seed of each 
lock of cotton, thereby bringing it out in a feathery-fluffy condition fully prepared for 
perfect ginning. 




MACHINE PICKED COTTON 
Note the character and cleanliness of the cotton picked by machinery — each seed of each lock 
of cotton is fully segregated, and almost free from all foreign matter. 

35 



and unripe cotton which is so objectionable to the spinners on 
account of such fibers being worthless, and to the cotton oil mills 
because unripe seeds are not only unfit for food products, but also 
cause other substantial losses. Machine picked cotton is almost 
free of foreign matter, such as boll-dirt, sand, leaf and parts of 
stalk. These statements being true, this machine thoroughly pre- 
pares the cotton for the ginning process just the same as the card- 
ing machine prepares the lint for the spinning process. There- 
fore, the gin, if properly operated, should not cut and tear the 
cotton as it does hand picked cotton because the machine has 
opened, cleaned and straightened out the fibers, thereby prepar- 
ing the cotton so that the gin saws can perform their work per- 
fectly. 

We have, heretofore, stated that cotton is classified and graded 
according to its (1) length of staple; (2) its freedom from for- 
eign elements, defects and impurities; (3) its strength; (4) its 
fineness; (5) its smoothness; (6) its uniformity; (7) its color; 
(8) its regularity of staple and (9) its pliability. Under official 
tests it has been ascertained that a bale of seed cotton picked 
with this machine will gin 40 pounds of lint, more or less, than 
a bale of like cotton picked by hand. At 30c per pound this item 
alone means a gain of $12.00 per bale for the producer over hand 
picked cotton. This is equivalent to 6% interest on an invest- 
ment of $200.00. We mention this in order to show the com- 
mercial value of this machine exclusive of the higher grade given 
to the cotton and the other benefits of which we are about to 
discuss. The lint ginned from the same bale showed by official 
test to measure from 1/64 to Ms inch longer staple (1) than 
from a bale of hand picked cotton from the same field. The lint 
being longer means a stronger (3) and more durable fiber, a 
better grade and a higher price in favor of the producer. Ma- 
chine picked cotton being almost free from foreign substances, 
defects and impurities, (2) does not require repeated cleaning at 
the mills to prepare it for spinning. These cleaning processes, 
when often repeated, not only weakens the fiber, (3) but pro- 
duces a certain amount of waste, and as usual, the producer 
always stands the loss in the shape of a lower grade and the price 
paid for that grade. If the cotton is full of sand, (2) it is almost 
valueless for spinning. The fineness and smoothness (4) and (5) 
depend largely upon the kind and variety of the cotton together 
with the absence of defects and impurities; however, proper 
harvesting and ginning add much in this respect. This is true of 
(6) except when it is cut and broken by the gin saws, and of (8) 
except when the hand pickers mix several kinds of cotton the 

36 



staples of which are uneven. The machine takes care of slight 
unnatural discoloration, (7) and even prepares storm cotton by 
drying, cleaning and brightening its fibers. Pliability may be 
increased by picking uninjured and fully matured cotton (9). 
Unripe and defective cotton should not be picked and mixed with 
ripe and fully developed cotton as it tends to lessen the grade 
materially. 

From what has been said can there be any doubt in the mind 
of the average person that cotton picked by this machine will 
class higher, grade better and command a higher price than 
cotton picked by hand? Most assuredly not. First, because it 
is freer from gin-cut fibers, the presence of which not only lessen 
its value, but cause the fibers to knot when spinning the lint, 
resulting in an uneven product of inferior quality. Second, be- 
cause of its freedom from foreign matter, the absence of which 
not only increases its value, but eliminates wasteful cleaning 
processes which always tend to weaken the fibers, affecting the 
strength and quality of the yarn. Third, because the staple is 
more uniform owing to the fact that the gin functions properly 
and defects and impurities not so numerous; therefore, it is 
better adapted to smooth and even spinning, thereby producing a 
superior quality of yarn. Fourth, because better color and greater 
pliability is added to the cotton, and lastly, because machine 
picked cotton goes through a process in passing through the 
machine which tends to eliminate undue moisture by reason of the 
peculiar advantages given to the cotton for curing before being 
ginned, and by drying the cotton, if damp from rain or dew, in 
the process of picking and conveying it to the ventilated recep- 
tacle. There can be little doubt, from what we have said, that 
machine picked cotton will reduce to no small extent the great 
loss and waste resulting annually from improperly picked and 
ginned cotton as well as the loss and waste due to improper 
grading and classification, both of which the annual monetary 
losses are estimated around $200,000,000. Of this reduction of 
the annual loss and waste, the producers should receive their pro- 
portionate gain in the shape of a higher price paid for their 
product. The more we think about it the more firmly are we con- 
vinced that this invention, in time, will reduce the loss and waste 
from this source to a very small fraction of the figure at which it 
is estimated today. Therefore, it does seem needless for us to 
dwell further upon this subject and its economic effect upon the 
cotton industry because it is so simple and so easily understood 
that even the most uneducated person could hardly fail to grasp 
its significance. 

37 



CHAPTER V 

IMPORTANCE OF CLEAN COTTON 

Elsewhere we have discussed the essential qualities usually 
considered in grading and classifying cotton ; however, we are 
prompted to devote more space to ONE of these qaulities ; namely, 
the cleanliness of cotton, for the reason that many planters con- 
tend that this quality has little to do with the grade or value of 
the product. In this respect, and for the following reasons, our 
view is to the contrary. 

The defects and impurities most common to cotton may be 
described as follows: 



Dead or unripe cotton constitutes defective fibers which have little 
or no natural twist, and when present in raw cotton to any great 
extent reduces its value very materially. Such fibers are difficult 
to remove which must be done before spinning, as they will not spin, 
dye or finish properly. Dead, unripe or injured cotton, if picked, 
should not be mixed with good cotton because the cotton mills are 
compelled to remove it, resulting in much waste and needless ex- 
pense to the manufacturer, the loss of which the planter shares in 
the shape of a lower grade and a lesser price received for his cotton. 
In this connection we shall state that the seeds of unripe cotton are 
green and immatured, and therefore soon become soft and mushy. 
The ginning process not only crushes these soft seeds, causing the 
oily ingredients of the kernel to saturate the cotton, rendering it 
almost worthless, but also breaks and tears the shell of the seed into 
hundreds of fine particles, with some of the lint hairs attached 
to each particle, which are called "bearded motes." These 
particles are not only difficult but almost impossible to remove, 
resulting in much waste and great loss to the manufacturer. 
Again, green seeds become mixed with ripe seeds which cause un- 
told losses to the cotton oil mills. They soon spoil and contaminate 
the good seeds, and thereby render the by-product unfit for food. 

Broken fibers usually indicate "gin cut" cotton which occurs more or 
less when the cotton gin is improperly operated ; the presence of 
dead, injured and unripe cotton; the ginning of damp or wet cotton; 
the gin machinery out of order; the choking or over-feeding of the 
gin; the failure to clean the gin machinery regularly, and also be- 
cause hand picked cotton goes to the gin in a tangled, wadded mass 
of fibers, consequently, the gin saws cut and tear the fibers much 
more than were the cotton properly prepared and cured before run- 
ning it through the ginning process. The broken fibers thus caused 
must be removed at the mills before spinning, resulting in another 
waste and loss which somebody must bear, and no doubt the manu- 
facturer figures the average percentage of such losses in the shape 
of a lesser price paid for the raw cotton. 

39 



3. Seeds, husks and shells are often found to a great extent in raw 
cotton, which is the result of improper harvesting and ginning. The 
seeds are either whole or in broken particles to which are attached 
lint hairs rendering removal difficult. These impurities represent 
not only a total loss to the manufacturer but also a source of great 
annoyance and trouble. We venture an opinion that the planter 
stands the loss, whatever it may be, in some form or other. 

4. Broken leaves indicate that the hand pickers did not use proper care 
■ in picking the cotton and pulled off many cotton leaves wh^oh tirp 
• mixed with the cotton. The cleaning facilities at the gin fail to 

remove all of the leaves and what is not removed pass on through 
the gin which breaks them up in fine particles, and the finer they 
become the more difficult are they to remove. Naturally, each suc- 
cessive process breaks them into still finer particles. The fine par- 
ticles go into the yarn, thereby producing not only an inferior grade 
of yarn commanding a lesser price, but also causes trouble in spin- 
ning on account of breakage, etc. Again, somebody must bear the 
loss thus occasioned, and no doubt it will fall upon those who per- 
mitted the leaves to be present in the cotton. 

5. Sand, dirt, dust and other foreign elements are found in cotton in a 
greater or lesser degree, depending largely upon the particular sec- 
tion from which it came, which is always a total loss to the manu- 
facturer. These foreign elements not only cause much damage to 
the mill machinery but increase very materially the possibility of 
fire. The average losses thus occasioned must be met, and as the 

' cotton is carefully graded before it is purchased by the manufac- 

turer, it evidently falls upon the grower who made possible its 

' presence in the cotton to meet it in the shape of a lesser price re- 

ceived for his cotton, 

6. Moisture in cotton is essential to keep the fibers soft, pliable and 
elastic. The usual amount is from four to seven per cent, varying 
with the different varieties of cotton. Any amount above normal 
is deducted from the weight of the cotton when sold. 

7. Stained or tinged cotton may arise from various causes. It may 
have remained in the boll too long during rainy weather. It may 
become stained from rusty hoops coming in contact with the cotton, 
or from mildew, or the fibers may become stained from oil caused 
by crushing seeds while passing through the ginning process; espe- 
cially, unripe seeds, and which cause much trouble in carding and 
spinning. Stains are also due to leaving cotton bales in the open 
unprotected from the weather. The losses thus occasioned are 
taken care of in the shape of a lower value placed on the cotton. 

In order to remove the defects and impurities from the cotton 
above enumerated, it i^ ''necessary for the mills to run the cotton 
through various processes, and among other things performed, 
these processes remove the defective elements as much as possible. 
The usual processes are as follows: 

Bale Breaking Scutching 

Mixing Carding 

Picking Combing 

40 



When the cotton contains abnormal amounts of these foreign 
elements, some of the above mentioned processes must be re- 
peated, resulting in further waste, loss of time and weakened 
fibers. Each process tends to weaken the fibers, having a cor- 
responding effect upon the yarn. 

Cotton grading is more or less imperfect due to the varia- 
tion of the fibers coming off the same acre of land, soil conditions 
and the time at which it was picked as well as the care exercised 
in harvesting it. Even a single bale of cotton may disclose all of 
the imperfections above mentioned. If the sample taken from a 
bale happens to be the best cotton in the bale it will bring a 
higher price than if the sample happened to be the poorest in the 
bale sampled. Cotton is graded according to the poorest sample, 
and different expert graders seldom obtain like results. There- 
fore, the defects, impurities and mistakes common to grading 
cotton are all taken into consideration in setting the market price 
to be paid for cotton and usually to the great disadvantage of the 
grower. The only real salvation for the planter is to do all he 
can to avoid all those things in producing, harvesting and han- 
dling cotton which lend such splendid opportunities for the 
various factors to work to the sole disadvantage of himself. He 
alone is in a position to correct these evils. 

The basis of grading in all markets is "middling" white cot- 
ton. "Strict good middling" is the highest grade recognized for 
American Upland cotton. It is a very bright, clean white cotton. 
"Good ordinary" is the lowest grade and contains an increasing 
amount of defects and impurities, and may be slightly off color. 
The official standard of the United States is as follows: 

3 — Strict Good Middling 
2 — Good Middling 
1 — Strict Middling 
Basis — — Middling 

1 — Strict Low Middling 
2 — Low Middling 
3 — Strict Good Ordinary 
4 — Good Ordinary 

With cotton selling around 30c per pound the difference 
between the value per pound of "strict good middling," the 
highest grade, and "good ordinary," the lowest grade, is about 
12c to 13c per pound, more or less. Usually, the price variations 
run from 4c to 6c less than "middling," and other grades accord- 

41 



ingly. Some cotton is so inferior that it is not graded upon the 
basis above specified. Sea Island cotton, being the finest cotton 
grown, is graded upon another basis. 

It is true that cotton buyers take into consideration the par- 
ticular section where the cotton was grown. If such section is 
dry, sandy and windy, the buyer knows fairly well what he may 
expect to find in the cotton, and offers a price accordingly. They 
consider the conditions under which it was picked, the weather, 
the time of the year as well as the average grade of cotton com- 
ing from such sections for years past, all of which operate to the 
disadvantage of the planter, however, the planter can correct 
these imperfections, and if he does not, then he alone is at fault. 

We cannot over-estimate the importance of clean cotton. As 
it comes from the field so shall it be in the bale, because the 
cleaning facilities at the gin will not remove all of the defects, 
impurities and foreign elements. Therefore, the chief source of 
the trouble lies in the method of picking the crop, and this 
method must be corrected if the evil results are to be checked. 
Cotton should be picked as free from dirt, sand, trash, leaf, unripe, 
injured, sun-dried and frost bitten bolls as possible. It should be 
properly cured and thoroughly prepared for the ginning process 
in order to eliminate, as much as possible, husks, broken seeds, 
particles of leaves and gin cut fibers. Again, the gin must be 
operated perfectly, and be in a first class condition at all times. 
If the cotton should be delivered to the mill in the condition in 
which it was picked, minus seeds, leaf, sand, dirt, unripe fibers 
and other foreign elements and impurities, spinning would be com- 
paratively easy work, and several cleaning processes could be dis- 
pensed with and thereby reduce expensive operations which 
always create waste and weaken the fibers so that the yarn will 
prove to be inferior in quality. The gin and other cleaning ma- 
chinery at the gin does not remove all the defects and impurities, 
and, consequently, they go into the bale, graded, and the value 
of the cotton based upon the grade determined from several 
samples taken from the contents of the bale. 

We have now covered the subject of the value of clean cotton. 
The next question is, how are the planters to correct the present 
method of harvesting the cotton crop so as to eliminate the for- 
eign and defective elements common to cotton picked by hand? 
The correction lies in the universal use of the STUKENBORG 
MECHANICAL COTTON PICKING MACHINE which cleans the 
cotton of its defects and impurities to a greater or lesser extent, 

42 




Stukenberg- Single Head Cotton Picking Machine Attached to a Small Beeman 

Garden Tractor 

■^ THE MACHINE WITH HUMAN FINGERS -^ 

and prepares it perfectly for the ginning process. If the gin is in 
perfect order, and operated as it should be, these defects and 
impurities of which we have spoken will be very materially les- 
sened, and for this reason the planter will receive a higher price 
for his cotton because his cotton will be superior in quality. 



43 



CHAPTER VI 

JUDGING THE FUTURE BY THE PAST 

We have discussed the history and evolution of the several 
prior inventions and discoveries, and how they made possible the 
great and efficient industries of today. We asked you to bear in 
mind how one useful invention properly utilized necessitated the 
introduction of other inventions and appliances of equal or even 
greater importance, and how these in turn developed economic, 
social and industrial progress and efficiency. The invention of 
new spinning devices required better and quicker means for card- 
ing and weaving. With the advent of new and improved carding 
and weaving devices, it was necessary to introduce spinning 
devices with sufficient capacity to supply the weaving machines, 
and vice versa, and in order to supply material for the new and 
improved spinning, carding and weaving machines, the cotton 
gin was a necessary invention because hand labor could not remove 
the lint from the seed fast enough, and so on, step by step. 
Therefore, basing our judgment upon events that have passed 
before, we are more than fully convinced that with the introduc- 
tion of the cotton picking machine, a better and more economic 
system of baling, housing and marketing the crop will be brought 
into use ; improved methods of grading and classifying will take 
place; new and better methods of cultivation will be gradually 
put into effect; cotton will be picked from the field properly, and 
little left unpicked and wasted; new and improved farm ma- 
chinery will be universally utilized; intense and diversified farm- 
ing will everywhere prevail ; fertility of the soil increased so that 
it will produce twice as much as it did before; better selection of 
seed for planting, and of kinds and varieties best suited for the 
different localities; better ginning processes, and so on until each 
of these factors reach the highest degree of progress and ef- 
ficiency, and each division of the cotton industry share its propor- 
tionate amount of gain and benefit. We believe that the STU- 
KENBORG MECHANICAL COTTON PICKING MACHINE will 
be the means of bringing these things to pass within a reasonable 
time, and our belief is based upon the history of past inventions 
and discoveries as refiected in this pamphlet. Of this, there can 
be no question, and for this reason, materially reduce the per- 
centage of loss and waste due to unpicked cotton remaining in the 
fields; baling, housing and country damage; marketing facilities; 
improper cultivation and diminishing soil fertility; imperfect 
grading and classifying and the damage caused by insects and 
injurious pests. 

45 



CAPACITY 

The Stukenborg Mechanical Cotton Picking Machine pulls the 
cotton from the boll by means of two cylindrical brushes, revolv- 
ing inwardly. The cotton is combed from the brushes by a 
cylindrical take-off device acting eccentric to its axis, the teeth 
of which protrude as they comb the cotton from the brushes, and 
disappear at a point fartherest removed from the brushes, thereby 
releasing the cotton when it is conveyed by suction to a cleaning 
device and by it dropped into a receptacle. 

The capacity of good hand pickers is about 100 pounds per 
day; however, the average number of pounds per day of all 
classes of pickers is around 65 pounds. Some planters claim that 
they have pickers who pick 300 pounds per day; others, 600 
pounds per day, and a few claim that they have pickers who can 
pick 900 pounds per day. We do not question these figures as 
they are probably true, but in order to properly interpret the 
meaning of these figures we submit the following examples: 

John Doe picked, wrapped and packed 50 bushels of apples in 
one day. He picked each individual apple from the tree. He did 
not pick any defective apples nor did he bruise any of the good 
apples. He secured a fancy price for the lot. 

Richard Doe picked 150 bushles of apples in one day. He 
shook the apples off the tree letting them fall to the ground to 
become battered and bruised and their keeping qualities im- 
paired. For this lot of apples he received less than Richard Roe 
did for his 50 bushels. 

John Brown, an uncle of Richard Doe, picked 300 bushels in 
one day. He went from tree to tree and shook the apples off 
which fell to the ground. He then turned the hogs in the 
orchard to devour the fruit. They did it easily by sunset. If he 
had had more hogs he could have picked more apples that day, 
and for this reason he did not pick apples nearly as fast as he 
was capable of doing. This lot of apples did not repay John 
Brown for the expense he was put to in raising them. 

This is a fair interpretation of what is meant by picking 300, 
600 and 900 pounds of cotton per day. Some pick cotton with 
utmost care; some pick cotton and everything that gets in their 
way; some snap the cotton off the stalk while others pick boll, 
cotton leaf, dirt and all that happens to go with it. The results 
need no further discussion. 

45 



It requires from 1,500 to 1,750 pounds of seed cotton, more or 
less, to yield a bale of lint cotton (500 pounds). Some varieties 
of cotton require only 40 to 50 bolls to make one pound of seed 
cotton; some 80, others 100, and some few as many as 150 bolls, 
depending upon the variety and the condition of the cotton when 
picked. The average number of bolls to a pound is around 90. 
Hence, the number of pounds that can be picked in a day depends 
upon the kind of cotton ; the number of bolls required to make a 
pound; the number of bolls opened and matured, and the con- 
dition in which it is at the time it is picked. 

The Stukenborg Mechanical Cotton Picker has a capacity, on 
an average, throughout the season, of about five to one over 
hand labor. However, capacity alone does not represent of itself 
the true commercial value of the machine. If it picked only as 
much as can be picked by hand labor, and performed the work 




Stukenberg Double Head Cotton Picking Machine Attached to a Small Beeman 

Garden Tractor 

of preparing the cotton for ginning, as is claimed, still its com- 
mercial value would be inestimable. The average daily capacity 
of hand labor of all kinds and classes is reliably estimated at less 
than 70 pounds per day. The capacity of the machine throughout 
the picking season may be 5 to 1 on an average, more or less, 
depending largely upon the skill of hand pickers and that of 
machine operators. The machine is easy to operate, picks the 
cotton from the boll cleaner, better and qufcker than hand labor, 
and prepares it perfectly for the ginning process. There is no 
complicated machinery to get oyt of order. Therefore, the vital 
points to be considered are, as follows: 

47 



1. The Cotton Picking Machine means just as much to the producers 
of cotton as the Self-Binder and Mowing Machine does to the 
growers of wheat and oats. They could not get along very well if 
they had to use the old fashioned wheat cradle and mowing scythe. 

2. It means that the skill of the expert hand picker will not only be 
matched but excelled by unskilled pickers, and even by any white 
man. 

3. It means that the planters of cotton can hire men to operate the 
machine and pay them by the day, week or month, and thereby 
exercise full control of them and their work. This is important to 
the planters because the men are not at liberty to work as and 
when they please, and therefore, a higher efficiency can be easily 
maintained. 

4. It means that the labor necessary to cultivate the crop is almost 
equalized with the labor required to gather the crop. This, in 
itself, greatly reduces the necessity of surplus labor, if any, which 
has, in the past, been a heavy burden to the planter. By reducing 
surplus labor, the cost of production is lessened. On the other 
hand, if no surplus labor exists, and labor is scarce, still the planter 
has a great advantage because less labor is needed to operate the 
machine. Through the use of the machine labor will become more 
equally distributed. 

5. It means that the crop will be gathered more quickly, and therefore, 
the possibility of damage to the fiber from rain, sleet and storms 
is lessened, and if only slightly damaged from inclement weather 
conditions, the action of the machine on the cotton will cure the 
damage. Even storm cotton, if not too muddy, will be cleaned and 
brightened by running it through the machine, and its fibers parted 
and straightened out. 

6. The power used to operate the machine can be used for many 
other purposes, such as plowing, cultivating, pumping, hauling, 
grinding, lighting systems, etc. The cotton harvester is an attach- 
ment which can be removed when the picking season is over. The 
cost of the picking equipment will be exceedingly low, and within 
easy reach of every small grower of cotton. 

7. It means that cotton can be picked by the machine when the 
weather is too cold to pick by hand, as gloves and overcoat can be 
worn without any inconvenience to the operator. Can pick early in 
the morning and late at night as the machine takes care of the dew 
and dampness. The machine leaves no "cow licks." Hand pick- 
ers do. 

8. It means the early removal of the cotton from the field, which 
makes possible fall plowing. Fall plowing produces a fine seed bed 
for the next season, not only insuring a better germination of the 
seed, but also tends to destroy the boll-weevil, insects and other 

48 



troublesome pests which sting the cotton bolls and damage the 
plant. Cotton stalks, bolls and all trash should be burned imme- 
diately after picking, and if possible before heavy frosts occur in 
order to destroy the hiding places and wintering places of the 
pests. The machine, in this respect, will prove itself to be a 
destructive weapon in the hand of the planter for the purpose of 
exterminating troublesome insects. 

9. It requires an expenditure of over $225,000,000 annually to harvest 
the cotton crop. The machine will work a very material reduction 
of this enormous sum, and also benefit the planter by lessening the 
cost of production. 

10. This machine will do much toward an economic and social elevation 
of the Negro race. It will tend to keep the women and children 
out of the fields. The women will then be able to attend to house- 
hold duties and to the wants of the children. The children should 
attend school, which will make them better men and women than by 
working in the cotton fields. 



The advantages and savings that will inure to the benefit of 
the cotton grov^ers through the universal use of the Stukenborg 
Mechanical Cotton Picker cannot be well over-estimated. 

The use of cotton picking machinery will sooner or later usher 
in new and improved methods of baling, housing and marketing 
the cotton crop. There is now much agitation relative to the im- 
perfect system of baling. It has to do with uniform classification, 
weight, compression, covering, housing, marketing and transporta- 
tion. Too much care cannot be taken in picking the cotton as the 
baling of the cotton takes place at the gin and is baled as it 
comes from the gin. As it is picked and ginned it goes into the 
bale. Damp cotton should not be ginned because the gin saws 
cut and tear the fiber, and it then passes on into the bale in a 
damp condition, and in many instances the producer received a 
price as much as 20c per pound under the market price that 
his cotton should have brought. Green cotton should not be 
picked and mixed with ripe cotton as it produces a like result — 
dampness and gin ciU fibers. Again, the seed has a tendency to 
heat, rendering the oil r'ld meal unfit for food. More care should 
be taken by the ginners to keep the seeds from heating. Again, 
if the gin is not run properly, depending upon the quality and 
moisture of the cotton, the fiber is also cut and torn which lessens 
the value of the product. All gins should 'ise the very best clean- 
ing facilities. 

49 



BALING 

The best time to sample and grade cotton is as the cotton 
comes from the gin, and before baling. This is the condition in 
which it is best suited for spinning. When it is baled, the 
spinners are compelled to reverse the process; that is, work it into 
the same condition as it was before baling in order to prepare it 
for the spinning process. 




APPEARANCE OF AN AMERICAN COTTON BALE AS IT LEAVES THE 

COTTON GIN 

The American bale is poorly covered and presents a very- 
ragged appearance. The jute covering of the bale easily de- 
teriorates permitting the elements to destroy and injure the out- 
side fiber. Under high compression the jute fibers are pressed 
into the cotton which renders the outside unfit for spinning. The 
bales, after being ginned, are usually dumped outside exposed to 
the weather, either at the gin, river banks, docks or railroad 
terminals, where they become wet, absorb moisture and the outer 
edges of the bales become discolored and the grade injured. In 
handling the bales the jute covering is usually torn off before 
reaching destination, allowing the outside of the bale to become 
dirty, wet and mildewed. Again, the bale is cut and torn in tak- 
ing numerous large samples from it to ascertain its quality. It 
goes to the compress for repacking and then reloaded for shipment 
or export. The bales are not usually uniform in weight, poorly 
covered, roughly handled, resulting in tremendous losses. 

51 




SOUTH AMERICAN INDIAN AMERICAN 

One bale fx'om South America, one bale from India and one bale from United 
States shipped to New Bedford, Mass. Note the neatness of the foreign 
bales and the ragged appearance of the United States bale upon reaching 
destination. 




AMERICAN AMERICAN INDIAN 

Two bales from United States and one from India shipped to New Bedford, 
Mass. Note the condition in which they were received at destination. 

51 




TEXAS OKLAHOMA 

One bale from Texas, the other from Oklahoma, both shipped to New Bedford, 

Mass. Could any system of baling be more wasteful and inefficient? 

We repeat, too much care cannot be taken in picking the 
cotton so that the various qualities of staple are regular and 
even. This would include ginning methods as well. A variation 
of one thirty-second of an inch in length of staple makes a bale 
unsatisfactory to certain spinners, and the same is true of color 
variations and the texture of the fiber. 

Several different bales are now compressed. However, the 
rectangular bale is preferable to the round bale. High density 
bales are a source of great annoyance to spinners as the high 
compression injures the fiber and the quality of the yarn is not 
so good. The cotton in the center of the round bales is a hard 
mass unfit for spinning, and almost a total loss to the spinner. 
The fiber is too delicate to be squeezed so tightly. The life is 
taken out of it. Oft times, the jute covering is pressed so tightly 
that the fibers of the jute render worthless much of the outside of 
the bale. They cannot be easily removed, and if not removable, 
the cotton cannot be spun. It is said that under a more economic 
system of covering over $3,000,000 would be saved annually. It 
is estimated that over $200,000,000 is lost annually through the 
faultiness of baling and country damage. Surely, these faults are 
worth while correcting, and they can be corrected. In this 
respect, a little time and effort expended on the part of the grower 
and other factors would count for much. 

52 



WAREHOUSING 

If the Stukenborg Mechanical Cotton Picking Machine makes 
it possible to inaugurate a uniform system of grading and classi- 
fying cotton, which it will, then it will cause to be brought about 
new and improved systems of compression and baling at the gins, 
and this, in turn, will induce the planter to erect proper housing 
facilities for storing his cotton, also the ginners will build ample 
warehousing accommodations to take care of the cotton tem- 
porarily, which will eventually give rise to local warehouses 
suitable to the needs of the different localities, and thereby work 
to the benefit of the planter and the good of the industry as a 
whole. There must be better co-operation between the producer, 
the ginner and the other factors representing each branch of the 
industry. Without genuine co-operation little can be accom- 
plished. We are not inclined to favor the opinion that any 
warehousing system under one management, either directly or 
indirectly, will prove advantageous to the producers of cotton. 
It tends to create something like a monopoly, and would very 
likely place the planters at the mercy of the other factors of the 
industry. We believe that the only real salvation of the planters 
rests in their position to take care of and conserve their property 
just the same as the Northern farmer is able to hold and con- 
serve his grain by erecting suitable granaries for storing it, and 
taking care of it wisely. This is exactly what the planters of 
cotton should do. They must build substantial housing facilities 
for the proper storing of their cotton so that they may not be 
forced to sell at any certain time, and at all times be in a position 
to hold their cotton until the demand calls for it, or until such 
time as they may see fit to sell their cotton. Like the northern 
farmer, they will then be able to finance their crop locally, but 
not until they provide themselves with ample equipment, encour- 
aging capital to meet their wants. The hazards must be lessened. 
The custom of holding cotton for better prices is not profitable 
when leaving the cotton out of doors unprotected. The damage 
to the cotton is often greater than the increased price obtained 
for it, and therefore, the planter is more or less at the mercy of 
those who seek to take advantage of him. Private and local 
warehousing facilities would do much good in establishing more 
favorable prices, because the selling of the crop would continue 
all the year round instead of a few months of the year. This 
method renders possible the stabilization of prices as nearly as it 
could ever be hoped for. Not only should the planter provide 

53 



housing facilities for his own cotton on his own land, but the 
ginner should do likewise, and there should also be larger ware- 
houses in different localities suitable for storing a large supply 
of cotton, thus providing storage room for those who are unable 
to have suitable storage houses of their own. Grading the cotton 
at the gin will do much toward solving this problem. 




ILLUSTRATION OF COTTON EXPOSED TO THE WEATHER 

Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cotton at the com- 
press exposed to the weather resulting in untold losses. 




PLANTATION SCENE 

This cotton is within 100 feet of a covered shed, not shown in 
the above picture, illustrating the wasteful and inefficient system 
of warehousing cotton. Millions are lost annually from this 
source alone. 

54 



We have told you that classifying and grading cotton should 
be done at the gin, and before the cotton is baled. That is the 
very time, in our opinion, when it should be graded, classified, 
marked, tagged, weighed and all the other things necessary to do 
to it so that its contents and quality can be guaranteed by the 
buyer, and eliminate the wasteful and inefficient systems of de- 
structive sampling and grading, and at the same time, so full of 
sins and advantages uncommon to the producer. The planter 
would then know exactly the grade and quality of his cotton and 
the daily market price that his cotton is worth. There is no 
reason why these faults cannot be cured, or corrected to some 
extent at least. 

Lack of co-operation for the sake of pecuniary benefits is one 
reason why the system has not been changed, but, in our opinion, 
the various factors of each branch of the industry can do much 
good in this respect by responding readily to a closer co-operation 
for the purpose of doing good to each other. The mills could 
pay more for cotton because of the assurance in securing large 
quantities of cotton of a uniform grade, and thereby lessen the 
multiplicity of middlemen who prey upon the producers of cotton. 
Many millions of dollars could be saved each year by improving 
these wasteful systems, and which would prove to be of mutual 
benefit to both producer and manufacturer. We believe that 
through the universal use of the Stukenborg Mechanical Cotton 
Picking Machine that these wasteful and inefficient systems will 
be gradually rectified. The very fact that it will change the 
method of harvesting and ginning the crop shall force new and 
efficient systems in baling, housing, handling and marketing the 
crop. 



53 



CHAPTER VII 

LABOR, CULTIVATION AND SOIL CONSERVATION 

We now turn to the subjects of labor, cultivation and soil 
conservation, the imperfection of which, has resulted in the loss 
of untold millions of dollars to the South. Before the Civil War 
cotton was almost entirely raised by slave labor. The price of 
cotton, therefore, was based upon free labor, which has been the 
primary cause in keeping cotton so low in price that the producer 
could not reap a sufficient profit to justify the proper care of the 
land and its products. Slavery has been the real enemy of the 
South. It has held back her progress for hundreds of years. 
After the war of the states, slavery ceased to exist, and labor was 
gradually placed under a wage system, such as it was, which fell 
short of being an efficient one. It resembled what might be 
termed the "exploitation of labor," and which, to some extent, is 
now practiced. 

We have heretofore described the home of the southern 
planter; how the women and children, both white and black, 
regardless of age or hours, toil in the fields; how wretched were 
the conditions under which they labored in order to eke out a 
bare existence, and the environments surrounding their home life. 
Labor was not even considered an item of expense in the produc- 
tion of the cotton crop. How quickly things change! The World 
War came upon us. It was fought and won upon many bloody 
fields of battle. Labor conditions were completely upset, and are 
still changing and going through a process of re-adjustment. This 
re-adjustment of labor is making the South the greatest and most 
progressive section of the American Continent. It is elevating labor 
to a higher plane of social and economic efficiency. The price of 
labor has not only increased, but the price of cotton is soaring as 
well. No longer will the planter be able to control labor as in 
the past. Labor has demanded better working hours; better 
tools; better opportunities; better and more attractive homes, and 
a higher living standard. Labor shall no longer tolerate past con- 
ditions. Too many other avenues of lucrative employment are 
open to labor where living conditions are more comfortable and 
embody some of the conveniences of modern civilization, larger 
wages and less hours of work, ample time for recreation and 
splendid opportunities for educating its children so that they 
may become better men and women when they grow up. Labor 
demands a full measure of life, liberty and happiness, and why 
should labor not have it? But, labor must confine its activities to 

57 



its own sphere, and to its own tasks, and not attempt to be both 
employer and employee. Therefore, it behooves the planters 
to provide for labor that which labor reasonably demands, then, 
and then only, shall the South regain her agricultural supremacy. 
Her industries will expand and her agricultural products feed 
and clothe the world. She shall astonish the world with her 
rapid growth of progress and efficiency. The cost of labor shall 
be embodied in the price received for her cotton and other prod- 
ucts. The price shall be one reflecting a reasonable profit to the 
planter, because the world is willing to pay it. THE WORLD 
ASKS THAT NO CROP BE PRODUCED AT A LOSS. If it did, 
then there is little doubt but that the world can get along without 
cotton because its utility is not sufficiently great enough to 
warrant profitable production. 

As we have stated before, the Stukenborg Mechanical Cotton 
Picker will do much not only in meeting the demands of labor, 
but also in solving its economic changes for the producer. Farm 
laborers are flocking to the cities which are now over-crowded 
and short of housing facilities. The lure of high wages, short 
working hours and the prospects of a good time induce them to 
leave the farm. They seek employment with the great industrial 
enterprises where the drudgery of physical effort is lessened 
through the use of machinery. Sooner or later they must go back 
to the farm where they can live better and save more money 
and follow an independent life. But the agricultural interests 
must provide better inducements to labor than in the past. They 
must introduce modern farm machinery, and modern farm ma- 
chinery as in the other industries raises the standard of labor. 
Labor saving devices and improved machinery must be developed 
and used by the planters of the South if they expect to move with 
the wheels of progress, and keep the farm supplied with efficient 
labor. The Stukenborg Mechanical Cotton Picker will have much 
influence in the solution of the farm labor question. 

CULTIVATION 

The South is said to be the natural home of agriculture. Its 
genial climate and fertile soil turned the attention of the early 
settlers to farming. Cotton became the principal crop of the 
South. No other factor has influenced the development of agri- 
culture so much as the use of machinery. At the beginning of the 
nineteenth century, farming was done with implements little 
better than those used in ancient times. Lands were broken up, 
crops sown, cultivated and harvested by hand labor. The very 

58 



fact that land was cheap and plentiful ; labor scarce and costly, 
quickened the development of labor-saving devices and appliances 
as a means of increasing production and decreasing the heavy 
expense of hand labor. The Civil War was a great factor in 
stimulating new and improved machinery because the supply of 
labor was thereby lessened and the demand for cotton increased. 
Since the Civil War, mechanical agricultural devices were 
gradually substituted for hand labor, but the southern planters 
failed to utilize new and improved farm machinery as readily as 
the northern farmers, and for this neglect, they have paid dearly ; 
however, some extenuation may be granted to the planters because 
they had to contend with uneducated and unskilled labor which 
could not adapt itself to the use of machinery, and furthermore, 
because of the surplus labor required to gather the cotton crop. 
These conditions now cease to exist, and therefore, the South must 
begin to educate farm labor so that it becomes skilled and better 
qualified to follow agricultural pursuits. The planters must fully 
realize that the measure of their success depends largely upon 
the efficiency of their laborers and croppers. Good home condi- 
tions, good educational facilities and better opportunities for 
labor will do much to put farming on a scientific basis, which 
shall result in increased efficiency for both planter and laborer. 
This is an age of machinery, and the South should lose no time in 
introducing modern farm machinery and urge scientific culture of 
all crops. 

Of all other countries, the South is best suited for the culture 
of cotton. The climatic conditions are ideal. The summers long 
and the climate humid, both of which are essential to the growing 
of cotton. The ground should be broken in the early fall which 
not only affords a good seed bed for the coming season, but is 
destructive of many of the insects by destroying their hiding and 
wintering places. The cotton plant is sensitive to frost, and there- 
fore, should not be planted until all the danger of frost is past. 
Intense and scientific culture always show good results. We are 
not inclined to believe that there is any one best system for culti- 
vating the crop, because the soil and climatic conditions are not 
uniform, and for this reason, each particular section or locality 
should employ such methods of cultivation as tend to yield an 
increased production. 

SEED SELECTION 

The planter must exercise the greatest care in selecting seed 
cotton if he expects a maximum yield. Never plant mixed seed 
from the gin or mill. Good selection of seed will increase the 

59 



yield from 10% to 50%. It is reliably estimated that the loss 
due to poor selection of seed amounts to $75,000,000 annually. 
This indicates that the planters have been very negligent, and for 
this neglect, they bear the loss, and the people do without the 
cotton. 

Each planter can easily determine the type and variety of 
cotton best suited to his particular soil and climate. If long 
staple cotton is grovi^n, the yield per acre will be 40% to 50% less 
than short staple, and therefore, the planter will receive a price 
much higher than for short staple cotton. The longer the staple 
the more valuable it is. Some varieties require 125 or more bolls 
of seed cotton to make one pound; some 40 to 60 bolls to weigh 
one pound. Therefore, a greater number of pounds can be 
picked per day of the latter than of the former. Some yield their 
locks easily and some adhere closely to the boll, the latter being 
more difficult to pick and suitable for windy countries. 

Use the utmost care in selecting seed cotton. The northern 
farmers are very particular in this respect, and often pay fabulous 
prices for seed adapted to their soil and climate. It is a good rule 
to go through the cotton fields soon after the first bolls begin to 
mature and select the best cotton, take good care of it and gin 
it separately so as not to get foreign cotton seeds mixed with it. 
It is said that the early maturing bolls produce the earliest cotton 
the next season. 

We have briefly touched upon the subject of cultivation for the 
purpose of showing how essential new and improved farming 
machinery has been to agriculture, and how it has gradually de- 
veloped during the last half century, because of the necessity of 
increasing production through the use of mechanical devices to 
take the place of hand labor in order to supply the demand which 
is ever increasing with the higher standards of living. The 
decrease of agricultural production compared with the increase in 
population has caused a deficiency far below the demand, and 
therefore, more production is not only demanded, but absolutely 
necessary to supply the world's wants. Scarcity of labor is also 
a factor to be recognized, and a very serious one. More produc- 
tion and more farm labor is absolutely essential if the cost of 
living is to be lowered, not higher wages and less hours of labor. 
The latter sounds well, but it will not work out advantageously in 
any respect. 

The Stukenborg Mechanical Cotton Picking Machine will not 
only revolutionize the method of harvesting the cotton crop, but 

60 



also materially aid in the introduction of new and improved labor 
saving devices for cultivating the cotton crop. It will be the 
means of supplying skilled labor and the inducement for labor to 
demand the best machinery so as to practice the best agricultural 
methods. The labor necessary to cultivate the crop will be 
equalized with the labor required to grow the crop. The cotton 
will be picked better and gathered from the fields in due time for 
fall plowing. It will increase the use of motor power on the 
farm which is so essential to fill the gap caused by the scarcity of 
labor. It will influence the planter to adopt scientific methods of 
culture, and thereby increase efficiency and production many fold. 

Remember, one invention leads to another, and before long, 
a satisfactory cotton chopper will be invented together with other 
useful types of farm machinery. However, we predict that in the 
proper selection of seed cotton and the invention of proper plant- 
ing machinery, the difficult task of cotton chopping will be elimi- 
nated entirely. Every useful invention put into use changes an 
old system of doing things into a new and better one. So it shall 
be with the cotton picker. It will bring about many changes in 
the present system of cultivating the crops. 

SOIL DEPLETION AND RESTORATION 

Land includes not only the surface of the earth and the 
elements above and beneath it, but the oceans and the seas, the 
lakes and other bodies of water and what they contain. Soil 
represents the outer surface of the earth and is made up of fine 
particles of rock, mixed with decaying vegetable and animal 
matter. The latter is called "humus," and is absolutely essential 
to soil fertility because of the looseness it gives to the soil and the 
effect it has upon moisture and ventilation so necessary to plant 
growth. It furnishes the food elements of plant growth. As the 
humus is exhausted, fertility is likewise diminished. 

In the early days, the American farmer paid little or no atten- 
tion to soil depletion. The soil of the southern plantations dimin- 
ished in fertility more rapidly than elsewhere. Virgin lands were 
cheap and plentiful, and as the soil of old cultivated lands dimin- 
ished in fertility the planter took up newer lands of greater fer- 
tility. This method was followed from time to time until the 
country was fairly well under cultivation. Today, the best lands 
of the country are occupied and land values have increased almost 
beyond reason, therefore, it is necessary for the planter to rebuild 
the wasted fertility of his lands in order to bring him money, 
success and happiness. He must either maintain or increase the 

61 



fertility of his soil to a maximum strength so that each acre shall 
yield the highest possible return in both crops and money; other- 
wise, nothing short of disaster awaits him. 

The cotton states have been more or less noted in the practice 
of the "one crop" system of cultivation. No other system is so 
destructive of soil fertility, and many plantations show evidence 
of soil exhaustion due to this system to so great an extent that 
production has become unprofitable. During the last few years, 
the southern planters have realized the weakness and unprofit- 
ableness of this system of cultivation and have taken steps to 
improve it. Past experience has proven to the planters that any 
system of farming which reduces or even tends to reduce fertility 
of the soil must be followed by some scientific process of restoring 
and increasing the fertility in order to maintain the fertility at its 
heighest standard of productiveness. 

To restore and improve soil fertility no system is so full of 
good results as is diversified farming. Today, the most successful 
farmers are those who rotate their crops. A number of crops 
should be grown ; especially, grain together with live stock. The 
crops should be selected so as to make the best use of the residue, 
and thereby return to the land a good portion of the crops that 
were grown on it. This can be done through herds of live stock 
and the manure derived therefrom and by turning under the 
residue, or green crops. It can be readily seen that if soil deple- 
tion is to give way to soil restoration the planters must diversify, 
and supply the soil with the elements of which it was robbed by 
the crops produced on it. It is not our purpose to go into detail 
as to how to restore soil fertility. The many government agencies 
supply this information, but we do desire to mention the fact that 
the ''one crop" system is unsound in every way. The returns are 
highly speculative on account of failures due to weather condi- 
tions, insects, pests and other destructive elements. It is far 
better for the planter to raise two or three money making crops 
marketable at different seasons of the year. Then, a failure in 
one crop will not occassion a loss of the entire year's work. In 
addition to these several crops, more grain and live stock should 
be raised which not only bring good returns, food, milk and meat, 
but also provide manure for soil building. Again, the rotating 
of crops lessens the damage from weeds, pests, plant diseases 
which are always more or less prevalent where lands are used 
for the same crops year after year. Furthermore, the rotation 
keeps labor occupied the year round which otherwise would be 
more expensive and less eflJicient. These few statements deserve 

62 



great consideration. They constitute the basis of successful farm- 
ing. Why should anyone aspire to be an unsuccessful farmer? 

In our opinion, if the fertility of the soil is restored and 
maintined to the highest point possible the acreage of cotton 
need not be increased for many years because in the applica- 
tion of modern and scientific methods of culture the planter will 
be able to raise as much cotton from one acre as he did before 
from two acres. The planter can then develop soil fertility in 
various ways and still produce as much cotton as before. It is 
estimated that over $140,000,000 are lost annually through the 
negligence of the southern planters to restore and maintain soil 
fertility, and as much more in their neglect to inaugurate diversi- 
fied farming methods. This great loss should and can be elim- 
inated, and thereby enhance the profits and value of the land of 
every planter. 

GOOD ROADS 

We cannot leave this subject without saying something about 
the advantages of good roads. Wherever farming has proved 
profitable, good roads, schools, churches, libraries and telephones 
may be found. The farm must be made more attractive to labor. 
Good roads are very important to those living in the rural dis- 
tricts who have to haul all their produce over them, and pass over 
them continually. Bad roads interfere with the social and busi- 
ness life of the farm. They work much harm both to the planter 
and the laborer as well as increase largely the expense of market- 
ing crops, and some crops cannot be marketed at all. Good 
roads will tend to bring those who left for the cities back to the 
farms. The planters can have good roads if they insist and are 
willing to pay a small sum of money in building them. The gain 
in marketing crops and the increase in value of lands offset 
many times the cost of building and maintaining good roads. It 
is estimated that over $10,000,000 are lost annually to the 
planters on account of poor roads for marketing purposes alone. 
Good roads make good transportation facilities. As the farms 
become motorized, which they will, good roads will be quite 
necessary. The Stukenborg Cotton Picking Machine will do its 
part to motorize the farm and thereby aid in the construction 
of good roads as much as anything else. 

BETTER HOMES 

There is much need for providing better homes equipped with 
some of the modern conveniences. Better homes and educational 
facilities make better farmers and citizens. The efficiency of the 

63 



planter is, to a great extent, measured by the skill and efficiency 
of his workmen and croppers. Therefore, education, schools, 
churches and better homes count for much. Good comfortable 
homes will invite good labor and keep the younger people on the 
farm instead of driving them to the cities where they are now 
drifting. Social relationship must be developed in the rural dis- 
tricts to make the farming class satisfied on the farm, and this 
cannot be done unless better homes and roads are provided. 

Again, beautifying the farm is very beneficial in every way. 
It is not only pleasing to the eye but reflects the character of the 
people living there. Beautifying the farm is really a paying 
investment. It does one good to see a farm well kept, all the 
fences in good shape, no weeds and trash to mar its beauty, build- 
ings in good order, and a home so inviting that even travelers 
passing by are inclined to stop and compliment the people living 
there for their effort and good taste in this respect. These little 
things create a very favorable impression. No one is impressed 
with run down farms and improvements with weeds growing 
everywhere, and no lawns or flowers to attract one's attention to 
the fact that mankind there exists. 

Improved farm machinery and scientific culture will do more 
to bring about these changes than anything else that we know of. 
The Stukenborg Mechanical Cotton Picker will aid in a speedy 
change to intense diversified farming, better roads which are 
now urged on every hand. 

GOOD TOOLS 

Good tools save labor, and go to make life on the farm more 
pleasant. Good housing facilities should be provided for tools. 
Never permit tools to remain in the open exposed to all kinds of 
weather as such methods not only decrease the possibility of reap- 
ing good returns from the investment in them, but greatly 
impairs their usefulness and lessens the efficiency of the work 
performed by them. 

Good tools save time, and time is an element that must be 
reckoned with on a farm. Crops must be planted and harvested 
and cultivated at the right time, or they are sometimes partially 
lost and even totally destroyed. 

Good tools save money because through their use the cost of 
production is reduced, labor curtailed, better work done, quicker 
and at the right time. 

64 



Good tools and knowing how to use them is a vital factor in 
successful farming. 

Good tools should constitute the planters most cherished asset, 
out of which they should realize great profits on the investment 
in them. 

We again mention the fact that the picking of cotton is the 
heaviest item of expense, and which will be greatly reduced in 
the use of the cotton picking machine. Its very use and influence 
shall be the cause of bringing other useful tools and machinery 
to the farm so that working on a farm will be a pleasure instead 
of a drudgery. 



65 



CHAPTER VIII 

TEXTILE INDUSTRY 

The beginning of spinning and weaving is shrouded in mystery 
and doubt. History fails to record the starting point. However, 
the work of spinning and weaving was at first carried on in the 
home. It was a family industry until the year 1760. The men 
toiled in the field ; the women spun and wove the fabrics in the 
home, and in this manner, a living was provided for many of the 
agricultural classes. The fingers of the women were better 
adapted to spinning than those of the men because the fingers of 
the men become coarse and stiff from heavy field work. This 
accounts for the origin of the legal term "spinster," an unmarried 
woman. Soon the home was no longer suitable in caring for the 
demands of the industry, which gradually developed into larger 
and more efficient quarters where numbers of skilled workers 
assembled to perform the work of spinning or weaving. This 
marks the beginning of the "factory system" of the present day. 
Its center was and now is on or near the Irish coast, or Man- 
chester, England. Here, the dampness of the climate made this 
section an ideal place for spinning and not so good for agricul- 
tural pursuits. Naturally, the people turned their attention to the 
textile industry. 

The "factory system" stimulated the use of mechanical in- 
ventions to displace hand labor, which brought about a great 
industrial revolution during the period of 1760 to 1830. In 1771 
water power was applied to spinning which led to the erection 
of factories along the suitable streams of Lancashire. Steam was 
applied in 1785, which brought about great changes in production. 
Great divisions of labor took place ; large amounts of capital were 
necessary for operating the factories; corporations were de- 
veloped for the purpose of managing and supplying capital to run 
the industries; the cost of production was cheapened because of 
the keen competition that took place, and which led to the prac- 
tice of sharp and unscrupulous business methods on the part of 
various manufacturers; labor was not only cheapened, but im- 
posed upon to such an extent that both health and character were 
jeopardized. Therefore, the struggle between capital and labor 
had its beginning. Civilization was for a time moving backwards. 
These evils were corrected from time to time through the passage 
of laws governing the employment of labor in the factories. In 
this respect, the industrial revolution had its bad eflfects, but it 
also developed changes which greatly benefited humanity. It 

67 



made possible the great textile industry of today. Machinery 
now does the work formerly done by hand. However, labor sav- 
ing devices were developed so rapidly, changing the entire indus- 
trial structure from time to time, that the people could not adjust 
themselves to the changed conditions, and for this reason, they 
resorted to lawlessness and the wanton destruction of property 
and labor saving machinery in order to gain their end, and much 
bloodshed followed. 

We now turn to the establishment of the industry in America. 
The first settlers of America brought with them spinning wheels 
and hand looms. The New England states became the home of 
the textile industry because of the available water power and 
ideal climatic conditions so necessary to good spinning. However, 
it was not long befor© friction arose between the Colonies and 
the mother country. England did not desire that the Colonies 
should become engaged in the manufacture of textiles because 
she wanted to force the Colonies to buy the finished materials 
from her, and, of course, this is one of the causes which led to 
the Revolutionary War. She wanted the Colonies to be dependent 
upon her, and enacted stringent laws to prevent any knowledge 
of her textile machinery to reach the people of the American 
Colonies, and also laws to prevent any of her skilled textile 
workers to come to the Colonies. She employed every means at 
her command to maintain a monopoly of all textile machinery. 

In the year 1775, Samuel Wetherhill, of Philadelphia, took 
steps to build a model of Hargreaves. The Revolutionary War 
came on, and the Colonies were thrown upon their own resources, 
compelling them to encourage the textile industry more than ever 
before. It was a case of necessity. At the close of the war, 
England flooded this country with fabrics and yarns at a price 
much less than such products could be manufactured here. This 
led to various laws imposing duties upon English made goods in 
order to protect and stimulate home industries. During the war 
little knowledge reached America relative to new and improved 
textile machinery used in England. Special laws preventing 
copies, designs or models leaving England as well as the immigra- 
tion to America of artificers, and they were enforced with great 
vigilence, which greatly hampered the introduction of the new 
systems of manufacture in America. So the Americans were 
compelled either to smuggle or invent their machinery, and both 
methods were practiced until most of the secrets of the industry 
were made available in this country prior to the year 1825. 

68 



Samuel Slater, called by President Jackson the "Father of 
American Manufactures," constructed with his own hands the 
Arkwright system of cotton machinery, and this system was first 
operated at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in the year 1790. This is 
considered the birth of the "factory system" in America. 

In 1811, Francis C. Lowell, of Boston, visited England, where 
he spent much time inspecting cotton factories. England still 
guarded her inventions very closely, but Lowell, being mechan- 
ically inclined, returned to the United States and perfected, as did 
Wetherhill and Slater, without plans or models, the English loom 
in the year 1814. A factory was erected at Waltham, Mass., 
which was the first in the world where all the processes involved 
in the manufacture of goods from the raw material to the finished 
product were carried on in one establishment. So while England 
did use every precaution to prevent this country from duplicating 
her textile machinery, they were in use in America by 1825. The 
English claimed that the people of the United States stole their 
ideas from them while the people of the United States claim 
independent discovery. 

The textile industry in America now being well established, 
cotton, instead of being a garden flower became an agricultural 
product in Delaware and Maryland, the culture of which grad- 
ually extended southward into all of the southern states. The 
New England and eastern states became the centers of the textile 
industry. Many mills are now located in the South. Natural 
climatic conditions with respect to dampness are no longer neces- 
sary because mechanical means have been devised which arti- 
ficially produce any degree of humidity needed in the industry. 

Since the Revolutionary War industrial progress has been 
greatly stimulated by invention, science and art. The people 
of the eastern states developed industry rather than agriculture 
because the opportunities for developing industry were so abun- 
dant. In the South, agricultural lands were fertile and plentiful, 
and the climate ideal for the culture of cotton, tobacco, etc. The 
South was not as attractive to immigration as the North, and 
therefore, the North became the most populous, which encouraged 
manufacturing enterprises. Industry thrives best where popula- 
tion is concentrated, while on the other hand, the South was given 
to agricultural expansion, resulting in large plantations where 
hordes of slaves were utilized. Free labor did not appeal to 
immigrants or new settlers. 

69 



The Civil War came on which again wrought great changes 
in industrial and labor conditions, and the South, although badly 
crippled from the work of its destruction, soon began to progress 
rapidly not only in agricultural pursuits, but in the development 
of her industrial and natural resources. At this time the southern 
states had 325,000 spindles while the northern states had about 
9,000,000. However, cotton mills began to spring up in various 
parts of the South, and when the World War came on the South 
was operating hundreds of textile mills and scores of other large 
industries. The South now has 15,500,000 spindles while the 
North has 20,000,000. So, a little after the close of the World 
War the South found herself almost independent, so rapid had 
been her progress, and as this war brought to her door so many 
opportunities for improving her agricultural and labor system, and 
for developing her industrial and natural resources, we trust that 
she shall not fail to take advantage of the things that are now 
easily within her grasp. Her textile industry should be expanded 
and consume more cotton from her own fields. 

Taking the cotton industry as a whole, the United States con- 
sumes a little over half of the American crop, and we are of the 
opinion that our home mill consumption should not be less than 
two-thirds, and perhaps, in time, all of it. England and other 
countries are using every power at their command to stimulate 
cotton culture in their own dominions in order to supply their 
wants. These schemes may meet with success when the United 
States would be forced to take care of her own cotton production. 
The southern mills consume more cotton than the northern mills 
because the South produces the coarser materials while the North 
cater to the finer materials; therefore, the South does not receive 
nearly so much money for her product as does the North. In 
this respect, we are of the opinion that the people of the South 
should develop the industry so as to reap higher prices for their 
products because the demand for finer materials is increasing 
both abroad and at home. We believe that more textile mills 
should be operated in the South; especially, in the southwestern 
states; that the people of these sections should do all within their 
power to encourage capital for this very purpose, and thereby 
tend to improve marketing facilities; lessen transportation hauls 
and make themselves more independent of other parts of the 
country. To this end, machinery must be utilized for educating 
the masses. Social and economic conditions must be made more 
attractive not only to encourage new settlers, but also for the 
purpose of keeping the native sons at home, and thereby, grad- 

70 



ually create more populous centers which are so essential to in- 
dustrial institutions. The centers devoted to industrial pursuits 
are the centers of thought, of mental friction, of intelligence and 
of progress. 

In this respect, we are convinced that the Stukenborg Mechan- 
ical Cotton Picking Machine will exercise a great influence 
because of the great changes in industry and labor it will even- 
tually bring to pass. It will surely bring agricultural pursuits 
up to a higher plane of social and economic eflficiency; tend to 
motorize the farm, and ultimately result in making possible suf- 
ficent home capital for the purpose of maintaining and expanding 
industrial enterprises throughout the South, all of which should 
bring not only greater prosperity to the people of the South, but 
also make them independent of the influences that have hindered 
their happiness and prosperity in the past. 

With this brief survey of the growth and development of the 
textile industry we pass to the next chapter, the future outlook 
of the cotton industry. The subject cannot be fully discussed for 
want of space, and we have touched lightly on those things only 
which have a bearing upon mechanical inventions in relation to 
the cotton industry. 



71 



CHAPTER IX 
FUTURE OUTLOOK OF THE COTTON INDUSTRY 

The climate of no other country is so peculiarly adapted to 
the growing of cotton as the southern portion of the United 
States. Other countries have expended large sums of money for 
the purpose of locating new fields where the soil and climatic 
conditions were suitable for cotton culture. While it may be said 
that new sources of supply were discovered, and can be de- 
veloped, yet it will require many years to bring about any appre- 
ciable results, and still the fiber will be greatly inferior on an 
average to that grown in the United States. One of the draw- 
backs to cotton culture in the foreign countries is labor. Another 
is transportation facilities. Still another is the lack of modernized 
farm machinery, and also the absence of good marketing facilities. 
These drawbacks are diflFicult to overcome, and if at all, it will 
take many years. There is reason to believe that some of the 
South American countries may bring some relief to the shortage 
of ideal cotton lands; especially, Brazil and Argentine, but the 
drawbacks above mentioned are present in those countries. 
However, we are of the opinion that there is little cause for alarm 
that the South will lose her supremacy in the production of cotton 
because labor, marketing and transportation agencies and climatic 
conditions are not what they should be in the other countries. 
The South has the land, the climate, the soil, the labor, and her 
people may be expected to progress as those in no other country 
can, and thereby meet any emergency now or hereafter existing. 

The demand for raw cotton is increasing by leaps and bounds. 
Statistics show a world population of approximately 1,600,000,000 
people. Of these, it is said that one-half are only partially 
clothed and 250,000,000 wear no clothes at all. However, present 
conditions indicate a more rapid development of civilization than 
at any other time in past history, and for this reason, a higher 
standard of living is becoming popular everywhere, and conse- 
quently, the demand for better food, better clothing and better 
shelter shall arise from all quarters of the globe, causing the 
demand for cotton products Lo exceed the supply for many years 
to come, and possibly, the demand may never again be satisfac- 
torily met. In this connection, attention is called to the many 
new uses to which cotton is being put, and which has made 
enormous inroads upon the supply of raw cotton, such as cotton 
substitutes for silk, artificial leather, insulation of wires, aero- 

73 



planes, and other commercial uses. The shoe industry now con- 
sumes over 225,000,000 square yards of cotton cloth exclusive of 
tennis shoes, leggings, etc. The greatest new user of cotton, 
which was ten years ago almost negligible, is the automobile indus- 
try of the United States. This industry now consumes over 
2,000,000 bales of cotton annually, and this estimate does not 
include the amount of cotton used by foreign manufacturers of 
automobiles. This industry shall consume more and more cotton 
as the years go by. 

There are about 70,000,000 acres given to cotton culture in 
the various countries of the world. United States about 36,000,- 
000 acres. India, 25,000,000 acres. Egypt, 2,000,000 acres. 
All other countries, 7,000,000 acres. The entire production of all 
these countries in bales of 500 pounds each is around 22,000,000 
bales for 1919. The average pre-war value of these lands may 
be stated as follows: United States, $66.00 per acre. India, $75 
to $100 per acre. Egypt, $600 per acre. All other countries, 
$60 per acre. In Egypt irrigation is necessary to grow cotton, 
and therefore, the value of cotton land is exceedingly high. 

The consumption of cotton has doubled in the past 20 years, 
and no doubt it will more than double during the next 20 years. 
It is said that it would require something like forty-two million 
(42,000,000) bales of cotton to clothe the world as we are 
clothed, and that nine-tenths (9/10) of all clothing worn consists 
of cotton goods. Taking all statistics into consideration, we are 
obliged to come to but one conclusion relative to the future out- 
look of the cotton industry, and that is, the cotton crop to what- 
ever extent increased is not likely to, at any time, equal the 
demand for it. 

The world should be more than willing to pay a price for 
cotton sufficiently profitable to the producer so that he is able to 
restore and maintain the fertility of his soils of which the world 
has robbed him and to introduce new and modern systems of 
producing, harvesting, marketing and handling the crop. In this 
manner only can the world repay the South for the burden she 
has carried for all these years in providing cotton for the world 
to the end that her country was robbed of its soils and her people 
miserably impoverished. 

The people of the South now have for the first time an oppor- 
tunity to make for themselves wealth, happiness and prosperity, 
and their country the richest and most populous in the United 
States. We have every reason to believe that they will grasp this 

74 



opportunity and begin at once to correct the imperfections of the 
cotton industry as the work of reconstruction must necessarily be 
slow and gradual. It may not be necessary to increase the 
acreage in order to produce more cotton, but it will be necessary 
to restore and maintain the fertility of the soil if more cotton is 
to be raised without any increase in acreage. The average yield 
of cotton per acre is less than 200 pounds of lint cotton. This 
is entirely too low. It is possible to double it under proper 
methods of cultivation. The acreage devoted to cotton culture 
in the United States is about one acre out of every seventeen 
acres available for this purpose. This is conclusive evidence that 
the South can meet the world's demand for this product, but the 
world must do its part in the shape of paying a higher price 
for the cotton. 

"Necessity is the mother of invention," and through the 
universal use of the Stukenborg Cotton Picking Machine the 
industry shall develop greater progress and efficiency, and this 
invention, in turn, shall usher in other new and useful labor sav- 
ing devices and appliances which aid very materially in the solu- 
tion of the various problems that now seem puzzling. Highly 
diversified farming, elimination of the enormous losses arising 
out of inefficient systems of producing and marketing the cotton 
crop together with the application of scientific methods of produc- 
tion will reform the old order of doing things. Such a course 
is necessary if the South is to occupy an important place at the 
wheel of progress. 



75 



CHAPTER X 

SUMMARY AND GENERAL DISCUSSION 

The preceding chapters contain a brief survey of the early 
growth and development of the cotton industry; the chief char- 
acteristics of the cotton plant and its fiber, its kinds and uses; the 
evils and abuses arising through imperfect systems of production, 
harvesting, marketing, handling and manufacture, and the esti- 
mated losses occasioned thereby each year in dollars and cents; 
the effect of nev^ discoveries and inventions upon the development 
of the industry; the textile industry; the importance of clean 
cotton; how the Stukenborg Mechanical Cotton picker will 
materially aid in the future development of the cotton industry; 
how it will lessen many of the evils and abuses now prevalent; 
the defects of hand picked cotton; the only important crop not 
harvested by machinery; now the mechanical cotton picker 
will render obsolete the crude and primitive method of harvesting 
the crop, and why this invention may be said to be the "missing 
link" of the cotton industry, and when it is supplied it will bring 
about a true co-operation between the various factors of each 
branch of the industry, eliminating many of the wasteful systems 
and methods which have been so costly in the past, and finally, 
the discussion of labor, lands, soil and improvements, and the 
effect of new and modern machinery thereon. 

It is well for the reader, in order to fully grasp the intent 
of the various discussions, to familiarize himself with what has 
been spoken of heretofore, as set out in the foregoing summary. 
Under each subject, it has been pointed out how the Stukenborg 
cotton picking device affects them ; however, before taking up the 
closing chapters relative to this invention, we deem it advisable 
to again refer to the tremendous monetary losses occasioned by 
the evil and abusive systems and methods in producing, harvest- 
ing, handling and marketing the cotton crop, the estimated total 
sum of which is $700,000,000 annually, divided as follows: 

Country damage, baling and improper housing, $200,000,000. 
Improperly picked and ginned cotton, $85,000,000. Inefficient 
marketing facilities, $75,000,000. Improper grading and classify- 
ing, $65,000,000. Crude cultivation and soil depletion, $150,- 
000,000. Wasted and unpicked cotton, $50,000,000. Boll-weevil, 
pink boll worm and other pests, $75,000,000. 

Seven hundred million dollars is an appalling sum of money to 
lose annually through wastefulness. It almost amounts to crim- 

77 



inal negligence were it not for the fact that some extenuating 
circumstances tend to mitigate the crime of the past, and of which 
we have spoken. In gathering the above statistics, the writer 
has been very conservative in their selection, and was inclined 
to under-estimate rather than over-estimate them ; however, had 
the various estimates set out by the numerous writers and author- 
ities been incorporated in the above figures, we believe that the 
aggregate total of the estimated losses would have been equal to 
two-thirds of the value of the entire cotton crop for the year 1919. 
Our conscience rebelled at the thought of it, and even at that, 
the estimates may be true. Irrespective of what the resd losses 
from all sources may be, we do know positively that no other crop 
is subject to so much wastefulness through various evils and 
abuses, the burden of which falls upon the producer in the shape 
of a lesser price received for his product. We know, also, that 
these stupendous losses indicate that there is something out-of- 
joint. We know that somewhere there is a ''missing link," so to 
speak, because where there is so much undue loss the industrial 
machinery of the cotton industry is not running evenly and 
smoothly. This being true, we know that by supplying the "miss- 
ing link" that the chief trouble will be overcome. We believe 
that the "missing link" has been discovered in the shape of the 
Stukenborg Mechanical Cotton Picker, which bids fair to revolu- 
tionize the entire industry in all of its different branches, both 
social, economic and industrial, as did the cotton gin, and thereby 
prove itself to be the long lost KEY TO SOUTHERN PROGRESS. 

The age of machinery began with the improvements for the 
manufacture of textiles, and has ever since pushed forward into 
the very heart of industry to the enrichment and betterment of 
mankind everywhere and in every way. Every new invention 
marks some progress in the development of social, industrial and 
economic life. Every piece of machinery accomplishes some 
useful end not before attained. The evolution of the application 
of machinery from the beginning on through its various periods 
of development reflects largely the progress and efl!iciency of man- 
kind. As we stated so many times in the preceding chapters, the 
introduction of one invention into the life of industry makes neces- 
sary another of equal or greater importance, and in turn, another 
is called for, and so on and on until the old way of doing things 
gives way to new and modern methods for accomplishing similar 
results, and still the avenue for other and highly beneficial im- 
provements and inventions is never closed to the genius of man. 

The slowness of spinning cotton by hand, and the increasing 
demand therefor, brought forth the spinning wheel, and this, of 

78 



course, made necessary better weaving devices, which the mind of 
man also overcame, and these new time and labor saving devices 
were greatly improved from time to time, which then required 
greater facilities for providing more raw material. So the in- 
genuity of man was again called upon, and gave to the industry 
the cotton gin. But the inventive genius of man overlooked the 
growing necessity for better methods for harvesting the crop. 
This over-sight has caused one of the links of the master chain 
of efficiency moving the wheels of this mighty industry to become 
so weak that further progress has been retarded. The defective 
link h^^ been discovered and is to be replaced in the shape of the 
Stukenborg Mechanical Cotton Picker, and these pages give due 
notice that the workmen who are to make the replacement are 
on their way, and when their work is completed, the cotton 
industry shall again take on an added stimulus as it did when 
the cotton gin was introduced. 



79 



CHAPTER XI 

PUBLIC OPINION AND STUKENBORG COTTON PICKER 

The only important branch of the cotton industry that has not 
mechanically assisted or altogether displaced hand labor is the 
harvesting of the crop. Late in the fall of 1917, Louis Carrol 
Stukenborg invented the mechanical cotton picker bearing his 
name. The simplicity of its mechanism is marvelous. It consists 
of a picker head that is manually directed to the cotton boll, in 
which are encased two cylindrical brushes revolving inwardly at 
a certain speed, including a take-off device operating eccentric 
to its axis which combs the cotton from the brushes as it is picked. 
This picker head is attached to a hollow flexible tube (patented) 
through which the cotton is conveyed by suction as it is released 




Stukenberg Mechanical Cotton Harvester Attached to a Small Beeman 

Garden Tractor 



from the take-off device which combs the brushes. The suction is 
created by a small exhauster and through which the cotton 
passes into a cleaning device (patented), and from this cleaning 
device it is dropped into a receptacle for that purpose. The 
picker head mechanism is operated by means of a jointed flexible 
shaft leading from the engine to the picker head. The picker 
head is counterbalanced so that there is no weight in the hand 

81 



while picking the cotton, it being free to move in any direction 
quite easily. The picker head and its mechanism is called a 
"cotton harvester." It is so designed that it can be attached to 
any kind or type of suitable power machinery, and as many picker 
heads can be utilized as is necessary to give the greatest efficiency. 
Each picker head requires one operator. A one-horse power 
engine will drive a single picker head, and the more picker heads 
used the more power required. A small tractor is very desirable 
because it can also be used for doing light work about the planta- 
tion, gardening and other various uses. Two or more heads may 
be attached to a small garden tractor capable of performing the 
work of one good horse. Larger tractor, a multiplicity of picker 
heads may be attached. These picker heads, or cotton harvesters, 
may also be attached to Ford automobiles, chassis, trucks, or any 
other automobile or power machinery suitable, and with such 
number of heads attached thereto as is sufficient to harvest a bale 
of cotton before stopping to unload the cotton. The cotton har- 
vesters can be used in several different ways and attached to all 
kinds of power machinery. For this reason, it will prove itself 
very advantageous to the planters, and the very fact that these 
cotton harvesters shall be built as attachments to power ma- 
chinery only, this same power machinery will not remain idle 
during the period when there is no cotton to harvest, but put to 
other useful purposes about the plantation. This power ma- 
chinery will be used to perform various tasks about the farm, 
such as ploughing, cultivating, hauling, seeding, mowing, pump- 
ing, grinding, milking, gardening and to furnish electric lighting 
systems about the house and barn, or, if the power machinery be 
a truck or automobile, after the picking season is over, they can 
be used for performing the work for which they were originally 
bought. 

Therefore, the planter is not making an investment in a cotton 
harvester alone. He is investing in an article that has many uses, 
as the cotton harvester is only an attachment for the power 
machine, and can be removed when the picking season is over. 
This is why the cotton harvester should appeal to every producer 
of cotton, big and little alike. Could any device be better adapted 
to the particular needs of the planter, or better suited for motor- 
izing the farm, or better calculated to influence the rapid intro- 
duction of improved machinery on the farm, and at a cost so 
ridiculously low compared to the possible return on the initial 
outlay of money invested in it? These statements ring with 
truth, but as we have often stated in this pamphlet, farmers do 

82 



not take to new and improved machinery very readily. They 
are more inclined to stick to the old method of doing things than 
in any other industry. 

The writer remembers very distinctly the time when the 
manure spreader was first placed on the market. His father 
purchased two of these spreaders. The men gave them a try-out. 
The next day they refused to use them, claiming that they could 
do more work, do it easier and spread the manure better by hand 
than could be done with the spreaders. The answer is, what 
farmer is without one today? Any farmer without a spreader is 
far from being up-to-date. He is losing money. The writer might 
say also that one of these spreaders is still in use, being repaired 
many times, which is ample proof of the long life of farm ma- 
chinery if properly housed and cared for. The writer also 
remembers when riding plows and cultivators first came out. He 
knows certain farmers who condemned them, and some who 
bought them, and later discarded them, saying that they were 
not as good as the old type of walking plows and cultivators. 
Everywhere there is plenty of evidence today that their theory 
was false, and the question need not be further discussed. 
Imagination is a dreadful disease if such it can be called. To 
cure it sometimes takes years. Cream separators were at first 
condemned. What article about a farm is more useful than a 
cream separator? Ask the women folks, they can tell you. 
Automobiles at first suffered the same treatment, next motor 
trucks, and so on. It has been no different with thousands of 
other inventions and labor saving devices. However, it is a fact 
that when a few of the real progressive farmers use new ma- 
chinery, the other farmers in that community soon follow their 
lead. 

It requires much time, patience and money to mold public 
opinion against its will, and to educate it up to a point where the 
true economic value of useful machinery is fully realized. This 
may be because the farmer, as a rule, is not mechanically in- 
clined, or has no skilled labor to operate good machinery, and 
furthermore, farmers seldom figure profits as do other industries. 
A farmer will loan or borrow money at 6 % to 8 % interest, and on 
the other hand, it is very diflicult to convince him that an invest- 
ment in machinery will pay him returns equivalent to 25% to 
50% and more yearly, and that the latter is by far a better 
investment. Why this is true we do not know, but we do know 
that the theory is unsound because the yield on the money 
invested in good machinery is many times greater than on the 

83 



loaning and borrowing transaction. Of course, this educational 
work is a characteristic of all new inventions, and many of the 
old ones if the many pages of advertising in our papers and 
magazines indicate anything relative to educational work, that is, 
keeping the merit of the goods before the public continually, and 
we know that the money invested in sound advertising yields 
enormous returns in the end. 

Manufacturers figure from three to seven years before a satis- 
factory market is created for new inventions. In this respect, 
attention is called to the McCormick Reaper, which made possible 
the opening of the great wheat fields of the West. It is a matter 
of record that nobody believed in his harvester. Nobody would 
have it. He advertised it; he offered it for $50. Nobody bought. 
Then finally one venturesome farmer bought one. That was in 
1840, and Mr. McCormick began trying to sell his reapers in 1831. 
So he sold one in nine years. The next year he sold none. Then 
came large business: for he sold seven the following year. This 
encouraged the young inventor. The next year he sold twenty- 
nine, and the following year, one each week — fifty-two. Four 
or five years ago, 975,000 of these reapers were sold in one year. 
Of course, the first reapers sold were not so highly improved as 
the last ones sold, but they answered a great want at that time. 
New inventions become more efficient from year to year because 
something new is added from time to time making it better than 
ever before. 

The history of the vacuum carpet cleaner is very similar. It 
required almost eleven years to create a satisfactory demand for 
it. Likewise, the typewriter, the adding machine, the automo- 
bile, trucks, as well as all the other useful inventions of the past. 
The farm tractors are now going through the same process of 
evolution, at least the salesmen tell me so, and they ought to 
know. These are inventions coming within the reader's own 
knowledge, and therefore, he is capable of vouching for the truth 
of these statements. 

Everybody is familiar with the great changes brought about 
through the use of improved machinery on the farm, and how 
necessary machinery is to the farmer of today, and how the late 
war has created a need for more modern machinery and labor 
saving devices. The Stukenborg Mechanical Cotton Picker is now 
running the same course as that run by the other inventions, but 
we feel that a device of this kind at this particular time is so 
greatly needed by the planters that it will not require a life time 

84 



to prove its real merit to them. Of course, the inventor has 
worked on it for almost twenty years, but the final successful 
machine was built a little over two years ago. 

When any of the inventions were first placed on the market 
they were not so highly perfected as they are today. Thomas 
Edison says that no machinery is 50 % perfect. We believe that 
no machinery will ever be 100% perfect as long as man, himself, 
is imperfect. When any invention reaches a point of perfection 
when it can be used to an advantage, it thereby becomes a utility, 
and for which there is a demand. The Stukenborg Mechanical 
Cotton Picker has been perfected to a higher degree than most 
other new inventions, and there is no doubt that countless improve- 
ments will be added to it from time to time. It is a wonderful 
machine as it now does the work of several persons, and much 
better than hand labor. 

Every planter of cotton should own one or more of these 
cotton harvesters as they shall prove to be the greatest asset to 
the planter since the invention of the cotton gin. The World 
War has wrought many changes not only throughout the South, 
but also the entire world. The OLD ORDER of farming must give 
way to a NEW and MODERN ONE so as to square with conditions 
as they now exist. In this respect, the distributors of the Stuken- 
borg Cotton Harvester desire to give full co-operation to the end 
that each planter shall be fully equipped with implements neces- 
sary for him to overcome the evils and abuses arising out of the 
old way of doing things, and thereby, bring about the greatest 
results in the shortest period of time. 



85 



CHAPTER XII 
FINAL SUMMARY 

While we have already stated what can be accomplished by 
and through the universal use of the Stukenborg Cotton Picking 
Machine, we shall again briefly enumerate the vital points, as 
follows: 

1. This machine is needed just as much by the growers of cotton as is 
the reaper for harvesting wheat. 

2. It removes the cotton from the boll by means of brushes, and 
conveys the cotton to a receptacle by suction. No physical effort 
or skill is necessary to operate it, and no complicated machinery to 
get out of order. 

3. The price will be reasonable and within the reach of every 40-acre 
planter. 

4. It is designed and built to be attached to power machinery. It can 
be taken off when the picking season is over and the power plant 
used for other useful purposes. Power machinery may consist of 
stationary gasoline engines, small and large tractors, chassis, trucks 
or automobiles. 

5. It picks all the cotton out of the boll. Leaves no "cow licks." 
Hand pickers do. It does not injure the fiber. Hand pickers do. 
Prepares the cotton so that the gin can do perfect work. Hand 
pickers do not. 

6. It picks the cotton better, quicker and cleaner than any hand picker 
could hope to pick it. Throughout the average season it will do 
the work of four or five to one over hand pickers. 

7. Can pick in th^ morning, or late at night, as dampness from dew 
or rain is cared for by the machine. It brings the cotton out with 
each seed of each lock segregated, and in a feathery-fluffy condition 
with the fibers straightened out, just as they should be for perfect 
ginning. Can pick during cold or freezing weather for that mat- 
ter, as gloves and overcoat can be worn without inconvenience to 
the operator. It takes care of most of the storm cotton by clean- 
ing and brightening its fibers. 

8. It not only equalizes the labor required to grow the crop with the 
labor necessary to gather the crop, but makes all classes of labor, 
white and black, equal so far as any advantage skilled labor may 
have over unskilled labor. Furthermore, it will tend to eliminate 
"surplus labor" wherever it may exist, and on the other hand, it 
will provide for "scarcity of labor" wherever it may exist. It will 
cause an equal distribution of labor. Again, it will give the 

86 



planter full control over his labor, whereby he can hire men by 
the day, week or month and exercise full authority over them. It 
assures labor a steady job, and the planter shall enjoy better re- 
turns out of labor's service. This, in itself, is a decided advantage 
to both labor and the planter. 

9. It means that the crops will be gathered and out of the field in 
time for fall plowing, making it possible for the planter to pre- 
pare well his grounds for the next crop, and in this manner lessen 
the possibility of great loss due to bad weather conditions, boll- 
weevil and other troublesome pests. The losses due to pests are 
estimated at $75,000,000 annually. 

10. It means that more lint will be obtained from each bale of seed 
cotton; free of foreign matter and gin cuts; the staple cleaner and 
more uniform in length; the grade higher and the class better, 
all of which adds quality and price to the product. 

11. It will surely correct any of the evils and abuses of the industry 
which now cause an annual loss of $700,000,000, and which to a 
great extent is lost to the producer in the shape of a lesser price 
received for the product as well as in a lower yield per acre. The 
estimated loss is 50 dollars per bale on the crop of 1919. 

12. It will greatly reduce an estimated annual loss of around $85,000,- 
000 due to improperly picked and ginned cotton. 

13. It will influence the early introduction of new and better systems 
of baling and handling the cotton crop. The loss sustained annually 
under the present system is estimated at $200,000,000. 

14. It will also cause to be brought about better marketing facilities, 
and thereby reduce a loss of about $75,000,000 estimated to be 
wasted annually through improper marketing systems. 

15. It will sooner or later usher in new and improved systems of 
grading and classifying cotton, and thereby work a reduction in 
the annual estimated loss of $65,000,000 from this source. 

16. It will practically eliminate the annual loss resulting from un- 
picked and damaged cotton left in the fields, which waste now ex- 
ceeds $50,000,000. 

17. It will prove itself an important factor in bringing the planter to a 
full realization of the necessity for better and more highly mod- 
ernized farm equipments, and to adopt the best bethods of diversi- 
fied farming and soil restoring, and in this way gradually reduce 
an annual estimated loss of $150,000,000, and also, it is possible 
to lessen the estimated annual loss due to pests of around $75,000,- 
000. 

18. It shall prove itself to be the forerunner of better and more beau- 
tiful homes and farms, well kept plantations, barns and other 

housing facilities. 

87 



19. Farm life must be made more attractive. Farm machinery and 
labor saving devices will do much in this respect. It will make 
farming a pleasure instead of a drudgery. 

20. It will stimulate country road building because of the effect grow- 
ing out of the extensive use of motors and farm tractors. The 
tractor is the coming power, and will be quite essential to profitable 
farming. 

21. It will be a mighty factor in elevating the Negro race, socially and 
otherwise. In our opinion, this is a very important matter, although 
our theory may be discouraged by a vast majority of planters in 
the South. The northern farmer cannot use uneducated and un- 
trained labor advantageously. Its mistakes and blunders are too 
costly. This also holds good, in our opinion, with the planter, and 
he shall sooner or later realize the force of its inefficiency. As in 
any other industry, the cotton planter must not only rely to a 
great extent upon his own efficiency, but also upon that of his 
workmen or croppers. If his workmen and croppers are not effi- 
cient, it reflects upon the planter's administrative ability. The 
measure of the planter's success rests with the efficiency of his 
workmen and croppers. Therefore, they must be educated and 
trained for the work they are to perform. 



88. 



CHAPTER XIII 

TESTIMONIALS 

The following copies of several of many letters now in posses- 
sion of the writer practically substantiate the merits of the cotton 
picking machine as claimed throughout this pamphlet. 

"Little Rock, Arkansas, Jan. 1, 1920. 

". . .1 have seen so-called cotton pickers but the Stuken- 
borg Cotton Picker is the only one I have seen that did the work. 

"I look forward to the day when the labor situation will be 
greatly relieved by the introduction of a cotton picker that will 
take the place of the present hand picking system. With few 
improvements on your picker, as some improvements will be made, 
I think the South will be greatly benefited by the invention. 

"I see only one drawback to your picker, and that is the cost 
to the average farmer. He cannot afford to put the price up for 
it. Of course, the cost will be reduced I feel sure as the machine 
will be perfected and the number increased. 

"JIM G. FERGUSON, 

"Commissioner of Agriculture." 



"Little Rock, Arkansas, Nov. 24, 1919. 

"The Stukenborg Cotton Picker, which, through your kindness 
I saw work today, is really a wonderful machine, and in my 
opinion will at least double the picking capacity of each operative. 
The operation was truly remarkable in that, after all these rains 
the bolls on the plants were more or less rotten and the fact that 
it picked much cleaner than cotton being picked in the same field 
by hand was a great surprise to me. I believe the cotton which 
was picked by the cotton picker will be from ONE to THREE 
grades BETTER than that picked by hand. 

"To really appreciate the advantages of this machine it is 
only necessary to see one in operation. I believe it is going to 
revolutionize the cotton harvesting of the southern states and will 
make possible the gathering of the crop in most years prior to bad 
weather, which, in my opinion, will save the state of Arkansas 
alone ten to twenty-five million dollars per year. 

"S. Y. WEST. 

"S. Y. West & Company, Cotton Buyers and Exporters." 

89 



"Washington, D. C, December 8, 1920. 

"It was my privilege to see one of the Stukenborg Cotton 
Pickers at work a few days ago and I feel like giving expression 
to my opinion of this wonderful machine. As a government 
grader I am naturally interested in any method that will facilitate 
cotton picking, realizing as I do, the necessity of getting cotton 
picked at the right time and in the right manner. 

"In the first place I am confident that your machine will pick 
more than double the amount possible to be picked by hand, which 
in itself is a strong point for the machine. But the difference 
in the cotton shown in a comparison of cotton picked by hand 
and that picked by your machine, out of the same field, in my 
opinion, is from one to three grades. The use of the Stukenborg 
machine will permit cotton being picked early in the morning 
while yet wet with dew, as the machine dries this all out and 
leaves cotton fluffy, which condition insures closer ginning with 
less damage to the staple. 

"General use of this picker over the state of Arkansas would 
have saved millions of dollars lost in cotton that could not be 
gathered before bad weather set in this season. 

"J. KNOX WOOD, 

"Cotton Grader. 
"United States Department of Agriculture, 
Bureau of Markets." 



"Dallas, Texas, December 7, 1918. 

"After witnessing the demonstration of your mechanical cotton 
picker, under conditions unfavorable to the picking of cotton by 
hand or otherwise, and having noted the rapidity, the practical 
application of the mechanical principle, and the performance of 
the machine in general, I came to the conclusion that, as a cotton 
picking machine it is in every way practical. The machine will 
pick cleaner, a more easily ginned cotton, and the use of the 
machine will result in producing from the gin a better, cleaner 
sample, and also make the ginning process easier. 

"With reference to the two samples of ginned cotton, one 
from hand picked and the other from machine picked bales 
taken from the same field under same conditions, the machine 
picked bale showed a cleaner sample, was not neppy, showed 
a better character of cotton, and was a better sample from every 
standpoint. This I attribute to the mechanism of the machine 
which fluffs the cotton and removes the dirt. 

"J. B. SIMPSON, 

"U. S. Cotton Grader. 
"United States Bureau of Markets." 

90 



"Little Rock, Ark., Dec. 1, 1918. 

"As an old cotton planter, year after year I have seen cotton 
stand in the field for months after it should have been picked, 
lose in grade and weight, and blow out on the ground because we 
have to depend upon the most unreliable labor to hand pick the 
crop. 

"Under these conditions, and yet with no faith in your ma- 
chine, I was interested in seeing it tried out, first in my own field 
and then in several fields adjoining, and from the first time you 
started it I never left the machine. 

"I have seen it work in cotton that should have been picked 
45 days ago, where weeds and grass were higher than the stalk 
and the bolls, and the stems rotton, the cotton dried out, light 
weight and blown all over the ground. I have seen old men, 
boys and girls pick with it. I have seen it work when it was 
too cold and too damp for the hands to pick cotton, and I have 
picked with it myself, picking four rows at a time, cleaning up 
the "storm cotton," immatured bolls and everything in sight. I 
picked more than twice as much cotton, a better sample and 
cleaner rows than the best hand picker out of five working in an 
adjoining field. Having seen the picker operate, and operating 
it myself, I am in a position to state what I know it will do. 

"It will do better work and give a better sample than 
hand picked cotton. 

"It will do the work of four or five hand pickers on an 
average, week in and week out, during the season. 

"It will remove sand and dirt from the cotton. 

"It will pick as much in cold weather as in hot weather. 

"It is a simple machine and one man can pick all the cot- 
ton he can make. 

"Thirty cents worth of gasoline and oil will run it one 
day at the present price of gasoline. (1918) 

"It is a real and practical cotton -picker. 

"ED PROTHRO, 

"N. Little Rock, 
"R. F. D. No. 1." 

Mr. Prothro is a cotton planter. Machines were demonstrated 
on his farm in 1918 and 1919. 

91 



"Georgia Experiment Station, 

"J. D. Price, Director. 

"In regard to your cotton picker and the demonstration made 
here at the Georgia Experiment Station farm, I wish to say I am 
much interested in the machine and really very enthusiastic about 
it. . . . There can be no doubt but in its present form it is 
a mechanical success. ... It ought to be purchased by 
every farmer in the state as the picking of our cotton crop with- 
out "weather damage" is getting to be a very serious problem. 
This is the most successful cotton picker among the several I have 
seen at work and will be the greatest labor saving device in- 
vented in recent years. 

"J. D. PRICE, 
"Experiment, Georgia." 



"Atlanta, Georgia, 1918. 

". . .1 have seen it pick cotton from the burr, and am 
confident of its success. I have noticed its work on premature 
and frost-bitten bolls, and the cotton in this condition is very 
difficult to pick, yet this machine picks the lint from these bolls 
to perfection. Damp cotton is also handled in fine shape by your 
machine, and it knocks out all the dirt and segregates it from 
the cotton and leaves the fiber in splendid shape. Your machine 
is the only one of its kind I have seen which has proven to be an 
absolute success. 

"I am very much concerned in the success and manufacture of 
your machine, as it will mean a saving of millions of dollars in 
labor. I shall be glad to see your machine in the hands of the 
cotton farmers at the earliest date possible. 

"J. J. BROWN, 

"Commissioner of Agriculture, 

"State of Georgia." 



CONCLUSION 

In conclusion, we feel confident that an earnest effort on 
our part has been made to produce satisfactory evidence to the 
effect that the Stukenborg Mechanical Cotton Picking Machine 
will eventually eliminate many of the enormous annual losses 
resulting from the various evils and abuses of the cotton industry. 
The circumstances which have largely contributed to the eco- 
nomic, social and industrial progress of the past have been 

92 



reviewed, and they reflect the conditions upon which such 
progress in the future depends. Unless the South responds 
freely to the enlarged opportunities which are now presented to 
her there is little hope for any increased efficiency in the cotton 
industry. We do not maintain that the Stukenborg Mechanical 
Cotton Picking Machine will suddenly upset existing conditions 
with respect to the cotton industry, but we do predict that 
through a gradual process of evolution it will prove itself to be a 
mighty factor in improving the present inefficient systems and 
methods of which we have spoken in this pamphlet throughout. 

We are working for a great economic cause, one in which the 
whole world is interested. We are striving to change an old, 
wasteful and inefficient system of producing, harvesting, handling 
and marketing the cotton crop into a new and more efficient one ; 
for a better and more effective co-operation between the planter 
and the other allied branches of the industry, and for a better 
general understanding of the needs and wants of each particular 
branch of the cotton industry to the end that each particular 
branch earnestly strive to understand and meet the needs and 
wants of the other, and thereby, acting as a unit, correct the evils 
and abuses of the industry which cannot be accomplished nearly 
so well by individual effort. This is our purpose, and may we 
not fail to receive full and proper support in our undertaking 
from all those who feel inclined to do something worth while 
for the good of the cotton industry, and which means so much to 
mankind everywhere. The introduction of the Stukenborg 
Mechanical Cotton Picking Machine is the KEY to SOUTHERN 
PROGRESS. 



93 




VIEW OF STUKENBORG'S FIRST MODEL OF A DOUBLE HEAD 
COTTON PICKER 

The picking mechanism was driven by a small one and one- 
half horse power stationary gasoline engine mounted on a port- 
able frame, and pulled through the cotton rows by hand power. 
At the right is the inventor holding one of the picker heads, and 
to the left a small boy holding the other, showing that a picker 
head can be operated by the latter. 

In the fall of 1919, the same picking mechanism was attached 
to a small garden tractor, elsewhere illustrated in this pamphlet, 
thereby eliminating hand power in pulling the machine through 
the field. 

Attaching the Stukenborg Cotton Picking Machine to tractors 
not only increased the commercial value of the cotton picking 
machine, but also added a much greater value to the tractor 
because the cotton picking machine was less expensive to manu- 
facture and market, and when used as an attachment for tractors, 
their usefulness and efficiency increased materially. 



94 




VIEW OF THE INDIANA TRACTOR 

This farm tractor is manufactured by the Indiana Silo and 
Tractor Company, Anderson, Indiana, and to which the Stuken- 
borg Cotton Harvester will be designed as an attachment. It 
represents the larger type of farm tractors to which four or more 
picker heads can be attached. 

This tractor is representative of the best all round types for 
breaking up ground, cultivating crops, harvesting grain, hauling, 
and for other purposes about the average farm. 



95 




DESIGN OF A STUKENBORG COTTON HARVESTER ATTACHED TO A 
TRUCK, AUTOMOBILE OR CHASSIS 

The Stukenborg Cotton Harvesters can be attached to trucks, 
automobiles, chassis or any other suitable power machinery. The 
above design represents four cotton picker heads attached to a 
truck, only two cotton picker heads are shown in the cut. More 
than four cotton picker heads can be attached, six to eight if the 
efficiency is thereby increased and more than a bale of cotton 
picked and carried before unloading it. 

Your attention is called to the evolution of the Stukenborg 
Cotton Picker with respect to power, beginning with a small hand 
pulled power plant, then as an attachment to a small garden 
tractor, then to a larger field tractor, and finally to a truck, auto- 
mobile or chassis. Electric power may be applied sooner or later. 

The COTTON PICKER COMPANY OF AMERICA is now 
working out a system whereby the cotton as it is picked by the 
Stukenborg Cotton Picker will be conveyed to suitable ginning 
machinery attached to the tractor, chassis or truck and baled 
ready for the market. It now seems possible to put a system of 
this kind into practical use, and thereby do much good for the 
cotton industry as a whole. 

* The Cotton Picker Company of America has sub-licensed to 
several large tractor concerns the right to manufacture and sell 
Stukenborg Cotton Harvesters as attachments for their tractors. 

ADDRESS ALL COMMUNICATIONS TO 

COTTON PICKER COMPANY OF AMERICA 

BOX 488 

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U. S. A. 



Price of "Stukenborg Mechanical Cotton Picking Machine, The Key to Southern 
Progress," $1.00, Postage Prepaid 

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